- chemweb - imperial.ac.uk

OLE problem
by Wendy Warr 07 Jul '02

07 Jul '02

I wonder if some techie out there can solve a problem for me? I have a performance problem inserting objects (e.g., Microsoft equations, ISIS/Draw sketches, PowerPoint slides etc.) in Word documents on my one-year-old desktop PC. I have had the problem for at least 6 months but I can't remember how the machine behaved when brand new. I have spent some hours talking to the Microsoft help desk but nothing they can suggest has improved things. I have tried obvious things such as deleting lots of .tmp files, defragmenting the C disk etc. I have no virus problem according to the latest version of Norton. The machine is a Pentium III with lots of free disk space and 128MB RAM. I am using Windows 98 and Word in Office Professional 2000 (and ISIS/Draw 2.3, but I must emphasise that the problem is not specific to ISIS objects). When I have formulated an equation, say, there is a delay of some seconds before Word incorporates it. When I open a document with an object in it, the text appears instantly but there is a delay of seconds before graphics appear on the page. When I edit very long documents, Word sometimes crashes and if I print such documents I can sometimes get totally random errors in ISIS diagrams. The problem is still there when only one application is running, and the machine behaves equally badly in Safe Mode. I do not have this problem with my ancient (3-year-old) ThinkPad laptop, on which I am using Windows 95, Word 97, and ISIS 2.2. On that machine, when I have finished drawing in ISIS and I update Word, the diagram appears instantly in Word on a hatched background, then appears as expected the instant I close ISIS. There is also no delay with equations etc. If I formulate a document on one machine and use it on the other, the performance is poor on the Windows 98 machine and just fine on the Windows 95 machine, whichever machine was used to prepare the document. I used to use McAfee on both machines; I now use Norton on both. In any case, Microsoft have shown that it is not the anti-virus software that is slowing everything. We have also shown that the problem is independent of the print driver (although, as it happens, I use the same one on both machines). Clearly I could upgrade to Windows 2000 on the newer machine but that will bring a whole new set of problems. Has anyone experienced this OLE problem before? Is there a quicker and cheaper fix than changing all my software or buying a new machine? (I am constantly buying new machines anyway, but I want to keep the old ones functional, for business reasons.) Wendy Dr. Wendy A. Warr Wendy Warr & Associates, 6 Berwick Court Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 7HZ, England Tel/fax +44 (0) 1477 533837 wendy(a)warr.com http://www.warr.com chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Molecule of the Month - July
by Paul May 01 Jul '02

01 Jul '02

Hi, July's MOTM is Alliin, the active ingredient in garlic. It was written by an undergraduate student here at Bristol. HTML-only and Chime versions are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm#jul2002 Regards, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Paul May, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK tel: +44 (0)117 928-9927 fax: +44 (0)117 925-1295 <mailto:paul.may@bris.ac.uk> Mobile: 07811371539 Home URL: <http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/staff/pwm.htm> Molecule of the Month: <http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm> "Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dog's tongue will kill the strongest man" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Trivial it ain't! More on Quicktime and IE6
by Rzepa, Henry 26 Jun '02

26 Jun '02

This is the official solution for allow plugins (in this case Quicktime) to again be played on MS IE 5.5 SP2 and IE6 XP. One presumes a similar solution will be required for Chime and other Chemical plugins. The example below suggests that an ActiveX control is downloaded from the Internet. I presume a stand alone solution suitable for eg CDROMs will also materialise. Note how the onus is on the content developer to CHANGE their HTML page to make it work. I wonder how many will. (Thanks to Jonathan Brecher for the information!) >Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 15:11:58 -0700 (PDT) >Subject: Important News For Quicktime Developers >From: Apple Developer Connection <noreply(a)wwdr.apple.com> >Reply-To: Apple Developer Connection <noreply(a)wwdr.apple.com> >To: undisclosed-recipients:; > > >Windows Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2 and 6.0 with QuickTime >IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR WEB DEVELOPERS & WEBMASTERS > >Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, versions 5.5 SP2 and 6.0 >(soon to be released) no longer support Netscape-style plug-ins, >such as the plug-in installed as part of QuickTime 5.0.2 and earlier >versions. Consequently, Windows customers using these versions of >Explorer who visit your site may be unable to view QuickTime content >in the browser. To mitigate this problem and to ensure a positive >experience for your Web site visitors, you should add to your site >the HTML code that makes available the new ActiveX control for >QuickTime, as described below. > >NOTE: THIS ISSUE AFFECTS ONLY USERS OF INTERNET EXPLORER ON WINDOWS. > >BACKGROUND >QuickTime uses a plug-in mechanism to display movies from your Web >page in the user's browser. Before, you would use an EMBED element >alone to display QuickTime content within the browser, much like in >the example below: > ><EMBED src="sample.mov" width="160" height="144" autoplay="true" >CONTROLLER="false" >PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/"> </EMBED> > >For this mechanism to work, the user must have the QuickTime plug-in >installed on his or her system. If the appropriate QuickTime plug-in >is not installed, when your HTML page with QuickTime content is >loaded into the user's browser, the movie is not visible. Instead, >the browser replaces it with a "broken plug-in icon" and attempts to >assist the user in obtaining the required software. An unfortunate >side effect of this approach is that the user is directed away from >your site and is distracted by the installation process. > >THE ISSUE >Until recently, the plug-in installed as part of QuickTime worked >for both Netscape browsers and Microsoft Internet Explorer on both >Windows and Mac OS. Now Windows users who try to play a QuickTime >movie in Internet Explorer version 5.5 SP2 or later will encounter >the "broken plug-in icon" until they install the new QuickTime >ActiveX control from Apple in addition to the QuickTime plug-in. >Users of other browsers on either Windows or Mac OS are >unaffected--they can continue to use the plug-in installed with >QuickTime and do not need to get the new QuickTime ActiveX control. > >Once users have the new ActiveX control installed, they are also >unaffected; they can also view existing pages. > >THE SOLUTION >When authoring web pages, you can easily prevent this problem by >authoring your HTML to check that the required ActiveX control is >installed wherever you have QuickTime content embedded. This HTML >change will result in web pages compatible with Netscape and >Internet Explorer browsers on both Mac and Windows systems (see >below for more information). > >The required code consists of an HTML OBJECT element with an >enclosed EMBED element as in the following example: > ><OBJECT CLASSID="clsid:02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B" >width="160" height="144" >CODEBASE="http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab"> ><param name="src" value="sample.mov"> ><param name="autoplay" value="true"> ><param name="controller" value="false"> ><embed src="sample.mov" width="160" height="144" autoplay="true" >CONTROLLER="false" >PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/"></EMBED> ></OBJECT> > >CLASSID must always equal: >clsid:02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B >CODEBASE must always equal: >http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab >PLUGINSPAGE must always equal: >http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ > >The other attributes should be customized to your web page. You need >to substitute "sample.mov" (in both SRC attribute elements) with the >URL of the actual movie to be played. You should also change the >HEIGHT and WIDTH parameters to match the height and width of the >movie (in pixels). > >If you already have EMBED elements for the QuickTime plug-in on the >relevant pages, you need to enclose each of them in an OBJECT >element with CLASSID and CODEBASE parameter values as shown above >and with SRC and other parameter values to match those in your >existing EMBED element. The OBJECT element can use any EMBED >attributes QuickTime understands. Visit >http://www.apple.com/quicktime/authoring/embed.html for more >information. > >For existing web pages, it may be sufficient to add such an OBJECT >element to the "front door" page of your site. Once the OBJECT >element on the "front door" page has caused the user to install the >ActiveX control, all subsequent pages with the original EMBED >elements will work properly. In cases where you cannot be certain >that the "front door" page is always visited, then all your pages >should be revised to use these OBJECT elements. > >HOW IT WORKS >The OBJECT element is used by Internet Explorer on Windows >9x/NT/2000/XP platforms and by other browsers that support the >QuickTime ActiveX control. The enclosed EMBED element is used by >Netscape browsers, Internet Explorer for the Mac, and other browsers >that support the "Netscape style" QuickTime plug-in. Browsers that >understand the OBJECT element ignore the EMBED element; those that >don't understand the OBJECT element use the EMBED element. > >Within the OBJECT element, the CLASSID parameter uniquely identifies >which ActiveX control to use. A CLASSID parameter with the value >"clsid:02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B" tells Internet Explorer >to use the QuickTime ActiveX control. (You must use exactly this >value; it is the only value that identifies the QuickTime ActiveX >control). If the user does not already have the ActiveX control >installed on his or her system, the CODEBASE parameter tells the >browser where to find it for downloading. Internet Explorer will >automatically offer to download and install the ActiveX control for >the user, after which the movie can be played without restarting the >browser, or, if QuickTime is not already installed, will prompt the >user to download and install QuickTime. You must always use >"http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab" for the CODEBASE URL. >This URL will always have the latest version of the QuickTime >ActiveX control. >Because a browser will use either the OBJECT element or the EMBED >element, but not both, most of the element attributes must be >included in each. Note that in the example above the EMBED element >has autoplay="true" and the OBJECT element has <param >name="autoplay" value="true">, so the movie will begin to play >automatically whether it is loaded with the QuickTime ActiveX >control or the QuickTime plug-in. The only attributes that should >not be duplicated are CLASSID, CODEBASE, and PLUGINSPAGE. CLASSID >and CODEBASE are specific to the OBJECT element. PLUGINSPAGE is >specific to the EMBED element. > >Although Windows Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2 and 6.0 will no longer >use the QuickTime plug-in, once the QuickTime ActiveX control has >been installed on a user's system, these versions of Internet >Explorer will use the installed ActiveX control to satisfy a >properly coded EMBED element. > >ADDITIONAL READING > >For more information on the OBJECT element, see: > * The W3C Web site at > http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/objects.html#edef-OBJECT > >For more information on HTML in general, see: > * HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide 4th Edition, > by Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy, published by O'Reilly. > * Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, by Danny Goodman, > published by O'Reilly. > >For more information about QuickTime on Web sites, see: >QuickTime for the Web, published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. ><http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/quicktime/qtdevdocs/QT4WebPage/QT4WebBo…. >htm> > >For more information on Internet development, see: >http://developer.apple.com/internet/ > >Disclaimer: >IMPORTANT: This Apple software is supplied to you by Apple >Computer, Inc. ("Apple") in consideration of your agreement to the >following terms, and your use, installation, modification or >redistribution of this Apple software constitutes acceptance of >these terms. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not >use, install, modify or redistribute this Apple software. >In consideration of your agreement to abide by the following terms, >and subject to these terms, Apple grants you a personal, >non-exclusive license, under Apple's copyrights in this original >Apple software (the "Apple Software"), to use, reproduce, modify and >redistribute the Apple Software, with or without modifications, in >source and/or binary forms; provided that if you redistribute the >Apple Software in its entirety and without modifications, you must >retain this notice and the following text and disclaimers in all >such redistributions of the Apple Software. Neither the name, >trademarks, service marks or logos of Apple Computer, Inc. may be >used to endorse or promote products derived from the Apple Software >without specific prior written permission from Apple. Except as >expressly stated in this notice, no other rights or licenses, >express or implied, are granted by Apple herein, including but not >limited to any patent rights that may be infringed by your >derivative works or by other works in which the Apple Software may >be incorporated. >The Apple Software is provided by Apple on an "AS IS" basis. >APPLE MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT >LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, >MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE >APPLE SOFTWARE OR ITS USE AND OPERATION ALONE OR IN COMBINATION WITH >YOUR PRODUCTS. >IN NO EVENT SHALL APPLE BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, >INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, >PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR >PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE >USE, REPRODUCTION, MODIFICATION AND/OR DISTRIBUTION OF THE APPLE >SOFTWARE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND WHETHER UNDER THEORY OF CONTRACT, TORT >(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF APPLE >HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. > >---------------------------------------- >--------- ABOUT THIS EMAIL -------- >---------------------------------------- >You are receiving this email because you have agreed to receive >Technical or Marketing information in your Apple Developer >Connection (ADC) Profile. > >If you would prefer not to receive special notices, or the weekly >Apple Developer Connection News in the future, please log on to >http://connect.apple.com, click the "Update Profile" link, and >uncheck the appropriate ADC News box. > >Questions about your ADC Membership: >http://developer.apple.com/contact/programs.html >---------------------------------------- -- Henry Rzepa. +44 (0)20 7594 5774 (Office) +44 (0870) 132-3747 (eFax) Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AY, UK. http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Final release of VEGA1.4.1
by Giulio Vistoli 03 Jun '02

03 Jun '02

Dear collegues, we are glad to announce the new final release of VEGA1.4.1 ( http://users.unimi.it/~ddl ) our well known program to convert, manage and visualize of 3D structures for several platforms (Win32, Linux, Irix, AmigaOs). New features of VEGA1.4.1: - Interaction energy evaluation for the analysis of the docking results. - New console with direct command interface. - Avanced cut, copy & paste routines. - Predator plugin for protein secondary structure prediction. - GAMESS cartesian file loader and saver. - Glass windows (Windows NT/2000/XP only). - Some bug fixes. Release 1.4.1: - GAMESS cartesian file loader and saver. - Fix: HyperChem .hin loader. - Fix: XYZ detection. - Fix: Insight surface loader. - Fix: generation of solvent cluster. - Fix: Pentium III-M CPU detection. - Win32: interaction energy evaluation for the analysis of the docking results. - Win32: new console with direct command interface. - Win32: advanced cut, copy & paste routines. - Win32: Predator plugin for protein secondary structure prediction. - Win32: glass windows (Windows NT/2000/XP only). - Win32: PLUGINGET command added. - Win32: Dhrystone plugin 1.1. - Win32: updated DevIL DLLs to 1.3.1 Giulio Vistoli & Alessandro Pedretti Giulio Vistoli Istituto di Chimica Farmaceutica e Tossicologica Viale Abruzzi, 42 I-20131 Milano Italia Tel. +39-02-50317522 Fax +39-02-50317565 giulio.vistoli(a)unimi.it http://users.unimi.it/~ddl

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Need feedback from users of electronic journals
by Carmen Nitsche 31 May '02

31 May '02

Dear List Members-- I am preparing my talk for the 2002 International Chemical Information Conference, where I will be revisiting the subject "What end-users want and need from e-journals." The first time I addressed this topic, at the 1998 meeting, I sent around a survey to this list. I thought it would be appropriate and interesting to poll this group again for my upcoming talk. If you are an actual user of e-journals could you please spare 5 minutes to respond to the following 14-question survey? If you are an intermediary, could you please forward this survey to some of your users? Please direct survey responses to me personally and I will summarize for all respondents (and the list, if there is interest). 1. Do you work in: Academia __ Government __ Industry __ Other (describe) __ 2. In what country? __ 3. What % of journals do you read in e-format? 4. List the top 5 journals you read in e-format: 5. Do you use (mark all that apply): Personal subscription__ Institutional subscription__ Free trial__ 6. When you read an e-journal article, what % of the time did you find it in the following manner: browsing e-journal ____% found article abstract through a search on SciFinder/Beilstein/etc. ____% received alert of article of interest through a service (publisher-based or otherwise) ____% other (please describe) ____% 7. What e-journal features are most useful to you? 8. What e-journal features are least useful to you? 9. What additional features would you like to see? 10. Is printing (ease and quality) of e-journal articles important to you? 11. Do you need journal back issues to be converted to electronic format? 12. In comparison to the paper journal version, are you willing to pay for the e-journal : more __ the same __ less __ 13. If you could only pick one format, would it be: paper __ electronic __ 14. How have e-journals changed your use of the literature and/or your daily workflow? Thank you very much for your kind attention. --Carmen Carmen Nitsche MDL Information Systems 254 Rockhill Drive San Antonio, TX 78209 cnitsche(a)mdli.com 210-820-3459 phone/fax 510-589-3355 mobile chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Molecule of the Month - June
by Paul May 31 May '02

31 May '02

Hi, June's MOTM is Tryptophan, which is the controvesial food supplement that has often been hyped as "nature's prozac". It has been written by Kimberly Dick from ACD Labs in Toronto, Canada. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm#jun2002 Regards, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Paul May, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK tel: +44 (0)117 928-9927 fax: +44 (0)117 925-1295 <mailto:paul.may@bris.ac.uk> Mobile: 07811371539 Home URL: <http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/staff/pwm.htm> Molecule of the Month: <http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm> "Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dog's tongue will kill the strongest man" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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The Orbitron: a gallery of orbitals on the WWW
by Mark Winter 01 May '02

01 May '02

Greetings I'd like to announce The Orbitron: a gallery of orbitals on the WWW * Images representing orbitals * Animated plots of wave functions * Animated plots of electron density * "Dot-density" plots of electron density (Chime required for this feature) * Plots of radial distribution functions The address is http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/orbitron/ The images and animations are ray-traced representations which I hope will help visualization. The "dot-density" plots also aid visualization, but in a vey different way. This feature requires you to have the Chime plug-in installed. I'd appreciate comments as it's early days yet More features on the way! Regards -- Dr Mark J Winter Department of Chemistry, The University, Sheffield S3 7HF, England tel: +44 (0)114 222 9304 fax: +44 (0)114 222 9303 e-m: mark.winter(a)sheffield.ac.uk http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/staff/mjw/mark-winter.html WebElements is the periodic table on the world-wide web: http://www.webelements.com/ The Sheffield Chemdex is a listing of chemistry sites on the world-wide web: http://www.chemdex.org/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Molecule of the Month - May - Etorphine
by Paul May 01 May '02

01 May '02

Hi, The Molecule of the Month for May is Etorphine, which is related to morphine, and is used in the darts that tranquilise elephants. It has been written by Simon Cotton of Uppingham School, and all 4 versions are available. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm#may2002 Regards, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Paul May, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK tel: +44 (0)117 928-9927 fax: +44 (0)117 925-1295 <mailto:paul.may@bris.ac.uk> Mobile: 07811371539 Home URL: <http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/staff/pwm.htm> Molecule of the Month: <http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm> "Cyanide is so poisonous that one drop of it on a dog's tongue will kill the strongest man" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Case sensitivity in web addresses
by Rzepa, Henry 27 Apr '02

27 Apr '02

Some of you might have read the Feedback column in New Scientist, quoting Wendy Warr, who posts to this forum occasionally. The article is about the TheScientificWorldJOURNAL, and whether the case sensitivity matters or not. There is a comment that www.chemsoc.org must not be written www.Chemsoc.org etc etc. This issue has always lurked just beneath the surface, so I decided to see what the truth was. The reference is RFC 1034/5, the relevant part of which reads "The labels must follow the rules for ARPANET host names. They must start with a letter, end with a letter or digit, and have as interior characters only letters, digits, and hyphen. There are also some restrictions on the length. Labels must be 63 characters or less." Letters are case insensitive for comparison but case preservation is recommended i.e. the server should reply with the same case the client sent." I think this means that it does not matter how you capitalise the FIRST PART of the web address (my capitals!), the DNS system should be able to resolve it to the correct web server. Whether eg ! is allowed seems very doubtful. But of course a URI as it is formally known comprises the DNS name and then a directory path and filename to complete the address. This WILL be case sensitive if the machine registered as owning the DNS name runs Unix, but is unlikely to be if its Windows or a Mac. How a prospective user is supposed to know what kind of machine hosts the web service is unclear. This aspect has often been described as one of the things the original Web design got most wrong. -- Henry Rzepa. +44 (0870) 132 3747 (eFax) +44 0778 6268 220 (Mobile) http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AY, UK. chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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Re: Digital Signatures
by Eugen Leitl 27 Apr '02

27 Apr '02

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 20:12:45 -0400 From: Ian Grigg <iang(a)systemics.com> To: eugen(a)leitl.org, h.rzepa(a)ic.ac.uk Cc: Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs(a)philodox.com> Subject: Re: Digital Signatures "R. A. Hettinga" wrote: > From: Eugen Leitl <eugen(a)leitl.org> > Comments welcome. I'll forward them to the list and the author. > Slightly off beat this one, but you might be interested in the increasing > use/acceptability of digital signatures to sign legal documents. Token usage only, AFAIK. They are somewhat constrained by poor assumptions by the security industry. Check out this paper: http://faculty.smu.edu/jwinn/shocking-truth.htm > The technicalities are simple. Firstly you acquire a digital certificate > from Verisign (about $150 and install it into your email program or > into eg the your profile of the Windows operating system. Why would you do that? Isn't your signature good enough as it is? I'm curious. When I sign documents, I don't pay $150 for permission. Why did you need to do that? > I would be interested to hear if indeed their use has now become common > (they have been around for more than 3 years) or whether indeed their use > is still > very rare indeed. For the very reasons that you describe, digital signatures in general usage are as rare as hens' teeth. In specific applications they are quite usable; our own applications hit 6 figures a while back. But don't expect them to reach into general usage until the browsers are fixed to accept open signing keys. -- iang chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)

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