🚀 go-pugleaf

Joel Head (sophisto@holly.colostate.edu) wrote:
: >One recent example is someone has been almost continuously using many
: >of the better CS workstations to crack an RSA encryption key as part
: >of a challenge that some internet users have taken an interest in.  Is
: >*that* a worthy use of our departments scarce resources?

: To me I would say yes, RSA encryption is the leading encryption algorithm
: and the CS department is definitely the place to be studying something like
: this.  What are computers for anyway?  Are they there to idle and collect
: dust?  We as students pay good money to attend this university and some of
: that money goes to pay for the computers we have here on campus.  We have
: every right to use these computers for a technology like this.  Now I could
: maybe see if someone was using the computers for playing games or something
: not related to CS, but this IS.  If you want a dedicated machine that's not
: all bogged down, then go out and buy yourself one.  That's all I have to
: say...

There is a big difference between studying and implementing
some code to crack RSA and running a binary provided by someone
else.

There are LIMITED resources here in the CS dept, and there isn't
anything us students can do to change that in the near future.
If a user would remember to nice a program that is going to be
running for a long time the rest of us wouldn't even notice.

-- 
                 Mike House 
 Computer Science Colorado State University
              Fort Collins, CO
Commuting and Telecommuting from Loveland, CO