Uh, why are we doing this, again?

[OuTpaTienT]

Ok, so this whole rc5 thing was begun to show the world that our current encryption standards aren't nearly as strong as they could be/should be...right? Ok, then....

There's been hundreds, thousands, of PC's worldwide spinning their gears (figuratively speaking) 24/7 trying to crack this encryption code...for how long? Well over a year now, huh?

And we haven't cracked it yet? Do we have rocks for brains or what? To me it seems like we have proven that current encryption IS strong enough. At least strong enough for public business use and anything less than top secret nuclear device blueprints. (Plus we wouldn't want to encrypt our high-level nuclear plans because that'd make it too difficult for the Chinese to read.)

I'm sorry fellas (and gals), but I'm just losing ambition for this. It seems it's really more about who has the more powerful computer, and not about encryption standards at all. Well, if that's the case, then fire up Quake 3, run a benchmark and we'll settle this right now. - http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gifuT

[landy]

I think you will find that mos of the long time members started this with the aim of cracking the code and those that are still around want to keep going untill that goal is met. We all like to see who has the most CPU power and like to think we can keep in touch, but what we really want to do is crack the code.

Just look at the posts that went around when OGR started and all our clients automatically switched. Most of us disabled any other project so we could concentrate on RC5. Sure it's going to take a long time, but not as long as it will take for me to reach my SysOpt team 1 year birthday, trust me to join on Feb 29th !!!

All I can say is keep your eyes on the goal and keep cracking. By the way, I still play the odd game of Q III and Delta Force II, but then again I have a number of machines cracking so it doesn't impact the block count too much.

Simon.

[Mntsnow]

Excellent reply Simon! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[socalgal]

For me, the goal and purpose of the RC5 effort as stated here by cwizard is what inspires and keeps me going. (especially when the electric bills come in ... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif )

RC5 Effort (http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/Forum7/HTML/000298.html)

The dnet and pproxy stats, races and comp summaries gives the team cohesiveness and makes for a fun and friendly competitive spirit. (And we appreciate it, Virus http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif )

landy - well said http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Barney]

Well,you could always start with SETI.Unless you don't believe in alien life.What would also be a good reason to go to SETI,to prove you're right.

Ronald

[randy48]

I'm having a god time with it http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif I like a challenge and since retiring from the military, there really hasn't been many in the last 5+ years, other than tweakin PCs to get the mostest out of them http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif and to stay a head of the "Jones'" I haven't been crunchin long, but I'm in it to the end!

[OuTpaTienT]

(sigh) well, guess I'll keep cracking. If nothing else, it's a constant test of my system's stability.

But you guys aren't very convincing. Someone tell me WHY we are still doing this?

"because we should finish what we start?", well ok, that's fine. Then tell me this:

Why is it IMPORTANT that we continue doing this?

Is it so we can prove the current encryption is not strong enough? What are we gonna say when it's finally cracked?

US: See, see! We cracked your encryption code. It's not strong enough, it was too easy to crack.

THEM: Whoa, you cracked the code huh? And you say it was easy...how'd you do it?

US: Well, we just had thousands & thousands of all types of computers crunching numbers round the clock for almost two years.

THEM (holding back a smirk): ...And....you say that was.....EASY?

[codybear]

I'm taking my daughter skiing with the money http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif she will be old enough by then..

J/K..its not the money I just dont like to turn my computer off..I tried it for about 3 days and couldnt do it anylonger so why waste cpu cycles and I just love to be ahead of Mntsnow even if for just a day or two.. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Mntsnow]

LOL

Yep I hate to see cpu cycles go to waste too! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif But I think Codybear will be having a difficult time to stay ahead of me as it's time to upgrade the daughters machine or build my boy a PC instead of him living on the Mac all the time. (btw the Mac runs Seti as Mac's rule in that area!)

[OuTpaTienT]

The Macs can have Seti. Seti is an utter waste of time. I've heard from scientist, theoretical physicists, even one of the originators of the Seti project all agree that if intelligent life were sending signals across the universe they would NOT be using a single wavelenght (which is what we are looking for). They'd be using some type of spread-spectrum signal (which we couldn't identify if our lives depending on it.)

[Joel Kleppinger]

Running a distributed.net client does much more than what appears at the surface. Of course, there is the automatic response of showing the breakability (or unbreakability, depending on your perspective) of different encryption algrorithms.

However, it goes way beyond that. Wide area distributed computing as a technology is still in the toddler stages. Running the client puts you on the ground floor of that growth of computing technology. You get to be part of the trials and the resulting victories.

There are also numerous less abstract advantages. As you mentioned, you can use the distributed.net client (coupled with mp3 players, especially) to continually test the stability of your system. As I mentioned in a newsletter a while back, you can also monitor the CPU usage as well as your network connectivity... even remotely (using a personal proxy and ppstats).

Of course, that's just the technical stuff. What about the fact that you just can't find a better bunch of people willing to do everything they can to help other people? Cracking for Team SysOpt/TweakIt supports that community. Virus, Mntsnow, and everyone else... where could you find a bunch that would be able to match them? Being part of such a community has a tendency to push each of us all farther and harder to learn and do more.

It's about cracking a code, being part of a groundbreaking distributed computer, and so much more. The community, the assimilation, the intra- and inter-team stats and competitions. The growth and the fun. THAT is why I do RC5.

[OuTpaTienT]

Thank you Joel. Finally an answer I can sink my teeth into.

I wasn't even thinking about the whole distributed computing aspect of it. That is neat stuff, and can have far reaching implications.

Ok, I can be happy with that for now. Sorry, but I think I have a gene that just requires I question authority from time to time.

[cyphen]

hmmm...
maybe with a distributed computing effort and some DNA samples we could isolate that gene....


http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[landy]

No, questioning authority is a good thing. It reminds us of what we are trying to achieve and lets them know that we are keeping an eye on them. Hand on, things are sounding way to serious.... Time for some serious gaming, hmmm Monty Python's Quest For The Holy Grail should be just what I need !