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Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

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Re: Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

#2
Is it really fair to call these such algorithms "security through obscurity"?

By that logic, wouldn't real symmetric crypto also be considered the same, since it's still just math that similarly swaps the data with other bytes, based on an "obscured" password or key?

Re: Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

#4

Is it really fair to call these such algorithms "security through obscurity"? By that logic, wouldn't real symmetric crypto also be considered the same, since it's still just math that similarly swaps the data with other bytes, based on an "obscured" password or key?

The obscured part was pretending the unlocker needs external information

Re: Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

#5
Man, those CompUSA and Computer City pictures take me back. Spent too much time there (when the 7300 was my regular Mac, the CompUSA "Apple store" was my primary source of software). Probably still have some of those free Computer City floppies in a drawer somewhere.

Re: Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

#8
post #4

Is it really fair to call these such algorithms "security through obscurity"? By that logic, wouldn't real symmetric crypto also be considered the same, since it's still just math that similarly swaps the data with other bytes, based on an "obscured" password or key?

The obscured part was pretending the unlocker needs external information

I guess they could have done a public/private key pair in 1996, but doing that over a phone call was going to be painful. A simple password read over the phone and verified by the software was the best solution at the time.

Mind, this was also intended for a world where internet connectivity was not to be expected. The majority of PC owners were not online.

Re: Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

#9
post #3

It’s worth getting the Quake shareware disc for the NIN soundtrack. Official track names are now available following the vinyl release a few years ago. This is the only CD release of the soundtrack. Just don’t forget to skip track 1.

Mind that every Quake release includes the same soundtrack, it's not just the shareware version ;)

There's millions of such CDs in the wild, both shareware and fully purchased copies.

Re: Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

#10

Is it really fair to call these such algorithms "security through obscurity"? By that logic, wouldn't real symmetric crypto also be considered the same, since it's still just math that similarly swaps the data with other bytes, based on an "obscured" password or key?

I think you right, however they left all the right clues to decrypt it in days. You really don't want to do that.
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