At 1:11 AM 4/25/96 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote:
At 02:22 PM 4/24/96 -0700, Wei Dai <weidai@eskimo.com> wrote:
On Wed, 24 Apr 1996, Hal wrote: You can do signatures with Rabin too. I have a version of it in Crypto++ 2.0. It's been out for a while and RSA hasn't bothered me about it. Does anyone want to explain why, given the alternatives, people continue to use RSA and pay for it?
Sure. Because 1) it's a good algorithm for the job, 2) we've learned it, and have a PGP base behind our inertia, 3) The legalities of RSA are well-defined, 4) the Stanford patents mostly run out in 1997, unless Roger's suit succeeds first, 5) the price of RSA is fairly low, once free RSAREF came out 6) the price of licensing Cylink patents is high and/or unpredictable
I will add to Bill's list: 7) RSA is the best known and vetted of the Public Key algorithms. Some people say that the millennium comes on Jan 1, 2000. Others say it comes on January 1, 2001. I say it comes on September 20, 2000 when the RSA patent expires. Regards - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA