Bitcoin v0.2 was released on SourceForge on December 16, 2009, nearly a year after the initial v0.1 release. This was a major update that significantly broadened Bitcoin’s reach with Linux support and several important new features.
New features contributed by Martti Malmi (sirius-m):
- Minimize to system tray option
- Autostart on boot option for running in the background automatically
- New options dialog layout for future expansion
- Setup program for Windows
- Linux version (tested on Ubuntu)
New features contributed by Satoshi Nakamoto:
- Multi-processor support for coin generation
- Proxy support for use with TOR
- Fixed some slowdowns in the initial block download
The release also coincided with the launch of the new Bitcoin forum at bitcoin.org/smf/, which would later become the BitcoinTalk forum.
Satoshi acknowledged Martti Malmi’s development contributions and New Liberty Standard’s help with testing the Linux version. The Linux support was a significant milestone, as it opened Bitcoin to a much larger audience of technically-inclined users who were more likely to run the software on Linux servers.