Gmail doesn't allow new passwords shorter than eight characters. So that comparison doesn't support relaxing the password requirements for Ubuntu.
A better comparison would be smartphones and tablets, - iOS allows a simple passcode of exactly 4 digits, or a complex passcode of any length. (Even one character!) - Android 3.2 allows a PIN of 4 or more digits, or a password of 4 or more characters. - The PlayBook allows a PIN of 4 or more digits. At this point, there's little difference between the typical importance of data stored on a smartphone and the typical importance of data stored on a PC. So it would be unreasonable to require a more complex password on someone's PC than they already use on their phone. (For one thing, they may be more likely to use a password on their PC *at all* if they can remember that it's the same PIN they use on their phone.) The problem here, though, is that the same Ubuntu OS is used on servers. The data stored on a server is often hugely more important than the data stored on an individual's PC or phone. And it's much easier to try cracking a password on a server than on a PC. (If someone has enough physical access to your PC to try hundreds of password guesses, they might as well just restart into a live CD and steal all your data that way instead.) So a 4-digit PIN for someone logging in to an Ubuntu server would be ridiculous. So I think that sooner or later, we will need to stop taking a one-size- fits-all approach. We should have stringent requirements for a new Ubuntu password when it is being used as a server (or when remote login is allowed). But when it is not, we should warn about weak passwords but allow them. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/939595 Title: User can't set simple passwords for his local machine To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/939595/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
