User: geegs

Dodgy random numbers

On: Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing

From the Notable Changes document:

Adds the NIST SP 800-90 Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) to the list of available PRNG in Windows Vista.

Do they mean this one by any chance?

Slashdot has covered this before but, conspiracy theories aside, isn't the possibility of a backdoor enough to make this algorithm a misfeature?

Don't panic, it's not a security problem for you unless software developers choose to use it. I just can't see why they are giving us such a bad option.

Re:That's nice

On: Changes in HDD Sector Usage After 30 Years

On Linux, the ReiserFS and Reiser4 filesystems "squish small files together" to avoid this problem.

Re:10 million?

On: New Possible Record Prime Number Found

Write it in binary. That way every Mersenne prime will have a prime number of digits because (2^p - 1) divides (2^(pq) - 1)

Re:rediculous?!

On: Slashback: DRM, MPAA, ADSL

We do it to envite redicule!

Re:Time Zone

On: Mars Swings Unusually Close to Earth

23:25 EDT means 03:25 GMT throughout the year.
The change of time zone is a change in local time, not a change in GMT.
Say "So 23:25 EDT will be 03:25 in UK local time, not 04:25".
</pedantic>
Thanks for the reminder though.

Re:What tool to move to?

On: No More BitKeeper Linux

In the postscript to his announcement on moving away from BitKeeper, Linus rules out Subversion and states that Monotone "seems to be the most viable alternative".

Until I read that I had never heard of Monotone.

Re:except that..

On: Gates tried to Blackmail Danish Government

let's be clear - I definitely think gates is saying something along the lines of "if you're not going to make an effort to protect software, i wont make an effort to continue investing in your economy". That seems like a reasonable thing to say, doesn't it ?

I think I found the deliberate mistake. Do I win a prize?

"Don't Link to Us!"

On: New Orbitz Terms Prohibit Inbound Deep Linking

Although no longer updated, David E Sorkin's Don't Link to Us! page is still relevant.

A page like that could be useful for shaming companies into improving their linking policies.

Thank Poland!

On: Poland Blocks European Software Patent Vote, For Now

EU readers please Thank Poland!

Why should MS stop there?

On: Judge Orders SCO, IBM To Produce Disputed Code

We shouldn't be surprised considering how high the stakes are for MS.

How much of this kind of funding from MS would it take to make it worthwhile for AutoZone or Daimler/Chrysler to deliberately lose against SCO?

Could there be a plan to fix a victorious precedent for SCO? MS will want to make the most of its investment.