From: "Vincent J. Mooney Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Should the GIMPS effort discard Alan Blosser's results
> on the grounds that they were improperly obtained?
In my opinion, that would be silly.
Firstly, the results themselves are good. There's no technical or
mathematical reason to toss them.
Secondly, GIMPS and PrimeNet ask that people donate their spare CPU cycles
to the search for new Mersenne primes. It's up to the person that accepts
the offer to make sure that they have permission to install it on machines
that they don't own. GIMPS doesn't require signed documents for each copy
installed nor do I think it should. If you install it on a machine without
permission, that's between you and the machine's owner.
Thirdly, if Aaron did something wrong, the law (whether FBI, the police, or
whoever) will deal with him after due process. It's certainly not our place
to toss results or determine Aaron's guilt. He's innocent unless proven
guilty. And even if he is guilty, will deleting the results help anyone?
> The purpose would be to prevent future attempts of the
> same sort, i.e., improper use of corporate machines,
> per the corporation.
How will discarding the results dissuade others?
> Of course, I'll accept 1,000 or more machines when
> fully proper and legitimate permission is given.
*You'll* accept 1000 machines after legitimate permission is given? I hadn't
realised that you'd taken over GIMPS and PrimeNet and change the policies...
> I expect lots of arguments here !
I don't see that there's a whole lot to argue about. Sorry if that
disappoints.
Rick.
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