Install Wizard 'Looks Too Complicated'

[James Westby]

On Mon Nov 30 13:47:34 -0500 2009 John Moser wrote:
> List some not-silly reasons.

You're serious? Ok.

  * Takes a long time to crack any password that's not in the dictionary and
    more than a few characters long.
  * Rainbow tables would be too large to fit on the CD.
  * We can't know up-front whether we will be able to crack a particular
    password. Therefore the installer would say "please wait" for some time,
    probably as long as the entire rest of the install, then may have
    nothing to show for it.
  * One OS intentionally "cracking" another would (perhaps rightly) not be
    seen in a good light, regardless of how noble the reasons or careful
    the implementation.
  * It's a feature of dubious value to begin with. After it had taken some
    time doing its thing you would need to have the user type in the password
    anyway to confirm (you can't assume, and you can't really show it to them).
    This will take far longer than just asking for it in the first place, just
    to have them type it in once, rather than twice, when they should be
    used to typing it anyway (though those at UDS may find it ironic that I
    am the one saying that :-).

Can we please spend our time on other worthwhile features and not argue about
whether "cracking" tools should exist for all to use or not?

Thanks,

James