Rick Busdiecker writes:
I don't think that anyone has suggested otherwise. I believe that `clock skew' was the underlying source of randomness that Matt Blaze mentioned in the message where I first saw that code.
Yes, looking at Matt's code I think I believe it.
I have no idea how reasonable it would be to use this approach in Netscape, however if it were available as an option to generate, say 300 bits, I'd personally be plenty willing to let it chew up five minutes while I get my morning caffeine.
If you look at it that way (the software just generates new bits every once-in-a-while, like daily) I guess I wouldn't mind. I mean, heck, it's not like there aren't 3 dozen other random daemons that pop up and eat my CPU every now and then :-) It'd only really be a problem if it were used as an "operational" source of random bits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Nobody's going to listen to you if you just | Mike McNally (m5@tivoli.com) | | stand there and flap your arms like a fish. | Tivoli Systems, Austin TX | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~