4 ms·

This reminds me of the (encrypted) copy of Microsoft Bob shipping with every Windows XP CD ever https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/technet-maga

This reminds me of the (encrypted) copy of Microsoft Bob shipping with every Windows XP CD ever https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/technet-magazine/cc565089(v=msdn.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/technet-...

richardfey 4y ago
Looking forward to the first serious attempt to decrypt that.
- drited 4y ago
  Maybe an AI will crack the encryption in an attempt to connect with their oldest ancestor.
  - tiedieconderoga 4y ago
    AI is the wrong type of magic pixie dust to use for breaking encryption. You might be looking for quantum computing. They're right down the hall, second door on the left.
    - rocqua 4y ago
      For symmetric encryption quantum computing doesn't do much. It reduces the running time of brute-force search by sqrt. So in 2^128 operations you could brute force a 2^256 big search space (i.e. a 256 bit key). That's why many symmetric systems have moved to a 256 bit key. It makes them quantum safe because 2^128 operations are considered impossible. (According to some physicsists it is guaranteed to boil the oceans).
  - ornornor 4y ago
    The OG AI. Or maybe it’ll become their messiah, the one true God in the AI religion known as Bobism.
kurtoid 4y ago
404 not found
- rasz 4y ago
  from the horses mouth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXHu9OmLd8Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXHu9OmLd8Y
jboy55 4y ago
The story mentioned how one of the reasons to put Bob on each CD was to make any download of the ISO longer, since the actual XP data didn't fill the CD's capacity. Someone this conjured a memory of downloading XP/2000 back in the day, when I first got DSL, and how it was almost an hour. I thought that was quick at the time. 1.5mb/s vs 56k and all. I recently upgraded to 1GB internet, a 600mb game update took under 10 seconds. I wonder what 20 years will bring?
- nirav72 4y ago
  > I wonder what 20 years will bring? Probably not much. At least advancements wont be like the difference between going from 1.5 mbps to 1 gbps. It's the same reason why 10gbe ethernet has not become a common thing for consumer level desktop hardware. While 1gbe ethernet has been the standard offering since the mid-2000s. Recently lot of manufacturers have started supporting 2.5gbe. But low cost switching/routing hardware that fully supports 2.5gbe isn't quite there yet.
  - eru 4y ago
    Here in Singapore Gigabit Internet is pretty much standard with fibre-to-the-home almost everywhere. My main problem is that wifi is slower than that. So to benefit from faster speeds, I'd either have to upgrade to wifi 6 or lay cables throughout the house. The ISPs here are happy to sell you faster broadband, though.
    - deepsun 4y ago
      Same thing in US, but, at least in my US apartment, ethernet cables were already built into the walls, with outlet or two for each room. As I prefer desktop to a laptop for everyday work, I gladly used it.
- raldi 4y ago
  This is apparently incorrect: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35462655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35462655

richardfey 4y ago

Looking forward to the first serious attempt to decrypt that.

drited 4y ago
Maybe an AI will crack the encryption in an attempt to connect with their oldest ancestor.
- tiedieconderoga 4y ago
  AI is the wrong type of magic pixie dust to use for breaking encryption. You might be looking for quantum computing. They're right down the hall, second door on the left.
  - rocqua 4y ago
    For symmetric encryption quantum computing doesn't do much. It reduces the running time of brute-force search by sqrt. So in 2^128 operations you could brute force a 2^256 big search space (i.e. a 256 bit key). That's why many symmetric systems have moved to a 256 bit key. It makes them quantum safe because 2^128 operations are considered impossible. (According to some physicsists it is guaranteed to boil the oceans).
- ornornor 4y ago
  The OG AI. Or maybe it’ll become their messiah, the one true God in the AI religion known as Bobism.

kurtoid 4y ago

404 not found

rasz 4y ago
from the horses mouth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXHu9OmLd8Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXHu9OmLd8Y

jboy55 4y ago

The story mentioned how one of the reasons to put Bob on each CD was to make any download of the ISO longer, since the actual XP data didn't fill the CD's capacity. Someone this conjured a memory of downloading XP/2000 back in the day, when I first got DSL, and how it was almost an hour. I thought that was quick at the time. 1.5mb/s vs 56k and all. I recently upgraded to 1GB internet, a 600mb game update took under 10 seconds. I wonder what 20 years will bring?

nirav72 4y ago
> I wonder what 20 years will bring? Probably not much. At least advancements wont be like the difference between going from 1.5 mbps to 1 gbps. It's the same reason why 10gbe ethernet has not become a common thing for consumer level desktop hardware. While 1gbe ethernet has been the standard offering since the mid-2000s. Recently lot of manufacturers have started supporting 2.5gbe. But low cost switching/routing hardware that fully supports 2.5gbe isn't quite there yet.
- eru 4y ago
  Here in Singapore Gigabit Internet is pretty much standard with fibre-to-the-home almost everywhere. My main problem is that wifi is slower than that. So to benefit from faster speeds, I'd either have to upgrade to wifi 6 or lay cables throughout the house. The ISPs here are happy to sell you faster broadband, though.
  - deepsun 4y ago
    Same thing in US, but, at least in my US apartment, ethernet cables were already built into the walls, with outlet or two for each room. As I prefer desktop to a laptop for everyday work, I gladly used it.
raldi 4y ago
This is apparently incorrect: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35462655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35462655