[117620] in Cypherpunks
Re: Build a better OTP?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anonymous)
Tue Sep 7 12:03:08 1999
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 17:44:16 +0200 (CEST)
Message-Id: <199909071544.RAA12298@mail.replay.com>
From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Reply-To: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
> > There are several reasons for Intel's reticence. The main one is that
> > they want people to access the chip via a standard API which provides
> > high quality random bits. This is normal software engineering practice.
>
> I'm frankly not interested in using it under Windows, and I suspect
> many people who would like to run a tight crypto ship are just as
> uninterested as I. What's the point of using a crypto-grade RNG on
> a tinker-toy security model? If Intel writes a device driver for Linux
> and Paul blesses it, I'll have some confidence in it. I'm not sure
> whether it would have to be closely coupled enough to get infected with
> the Copyleft Virus, of course; if so, then <everybody> can bless or
> curse it.
Keep in mind that from the marketing point of view, Windows is used
far more than Linux. Very few manufacturers support Linux compared to
Windows, so it is not fair to single Intel out for this criticism.
Of course, Linux is becoming more important, especially in security
applications which would benefit most from the RNG chip. Intel has
privately expressed a desire to find some way to make the RNG technology
available to Linux. The stumbling block is the traditional Linux
insistence on source code availability, which is contrary to the points
made earlier for why Intel would prefer to keep the hardware interface
private.
The question is, if Intel released an object-code-only driver for Linux,
would it do more harm than good? Isn't it likely that they would be
blasted even more than they are now for failing to understand the Linux
community? This is not even rising to the question of open source and
copyleft; this is the more basic question of whether a .o file would
even be used by Linux developers.
These are the kinds of issues which Intel must be wrestling with. The
mouth-foaming discussion here has amply illustrated the hostility which
a manufacturer can experience from extremists towards any solution which
is ideologically incorrect. There is no point in Intel releasing a Linux
driver if it is just going to get them into more hot water. The Intel
bashing which has been so much in evidence recently is probably making
it even harder for them to find a way to work with the free software
community.
