At 5:11 PM 8/17/95, Jim Gillogly wrote:
I would hazard a guess that 90% of the compute cycles in the world are used running screen savers... this gives a <lot> of slack for people who would like to harness them to perform productive work like making points about the strength of security.
It would really be cool to have a screen saver that did useful work while displaying pretty pictures. Imagine a screen saver, maybe with code modules running in "After Dark," that updates the screen with keys tried...could be a nice demonstration of bignums in crypto, etc. Every now and then the user would get lucky and alarms would go off... (Details: getting the modules to automatically divvy-up keyspace...or maybe just let user pick his own key, or from a list, or whatever. A la the "Chinese lottery" keycracking scheme, where set-top cable boxes (containing computers) crunch on keys and try to match to signals sent over the air...Schneier may have something on this in his book.) Just a thought. The "Official Cypherpunks Screen Saver"? I'd rather have this running on my Mac than have a t-shirt. --Tim May (Berkeley Systems, makers of "After Dark" for Macs and Windows, supports third-party modules. Maybe the "Flying Toasters" could swoop down, pick up a "key" laying on the "ground" and proceed to munch on it...the mind boggles.) ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net (Got net?) | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-728-0152 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Corralitos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."