Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Quantum Quandary?

Being ignorant gives one enormous scope for making incredibly ridulous statements. Thus, one field where I've done only a slight amount of reading is that of quantum physics, but that's not going to hold me back from saying a few thigs.

This was brought on by an article I've just come across in The Register (motto: "Biting the hand that feeds IT") ... Quantum attacks worry computer scientists it says:
In the weird world of quantum computing, the state of computer systems networked together is so fragile that a read access to a single quantum bit, or qubit, on one machine would require a network-wide reset.

It's no wonder, then, that two researchers who are working on ways of defending against the future possibility of malicious attack assume that any unauthorised access to a quantum computer constitutes a catastrophic failure.

Wow! And here was I thinking that quantum computing and quantum networking were going to solve all of our IT problems, by providing immeasurably fast computing speeds and data transfer feeds, so that we would never have anythong to worry about any more.

Not so, it would seem. It's just going to be more of the same sorts of issues, but at considerably higher speeds!

Here are my (totally unscientific. non-quantifiable) predictions...
  • Miquosoft releases their Quista operating system, and many users become acquainted with a new phenomenon: the QSOD (Quantum Screen Of Death), but luckily your system reboots so fast that you only make out a brief blue flash out of the corner of your eye. This is marketed as "superior recovery technology" that is not available to users of the Qinux operating system.
  • Spammers send you not dozens, not just hundreds, not even thousands, but millions of unsolicited messages each and every day. Luckily, your superfast computer can bounce them back at hyperspeed.

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