Quantum computers closer than I thought...

[fatcatfan]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/61/33711.html

Wow. Ten years away. Quantum computers could change a whole freakin lot of things. Problems that currently take days, weeks, months, years to solve by modern computers could be solved with a quantum computer in seconds. The difference between a quantum computer and those we have today is that a modern computer must try each possible solution till it finds an answer that works. A quantum computer tries *all* possible solutions simultaneously, arriving at the answer in a single step.

[cyberkiller6276]

So it's like trial and error, only you run multiple trials at once.

Cool.

[Ich]

I'm sure the world of Cryptography is eagerly awaiting this, as long as it only really is cheap enough for the NSA to purchase. Otherwise, we're fucked.

[fatcatfan]

There have also been recent advances in quantum cryptography, which is immune to any cracking when used properly, even with quantum computers.