Re: OCSP and LDAP

[pgut001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Peter Gutmann)]

lynn.wheeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

>some ten plus years ago i was at a acm sigmod conference and asked somebody
>what this x.500 stuff was ... and was told it is a bunch of networking types
>trying to re-invent 1960s database technology.

I've used that explanation too :-).  The conversion went something like this:

Other person: "Why is X.500 so special?  Why is no-one else doing this?"

Me: "Get your favourite book on database technology and look up 
     'Hierarchical databases'".

[Time passes]

Other person: "I looked in several books.  Many didn't mention it at all,
               and one had a half-page historical note saying it's something
               that was obsoleted by better technology more than two decades 
               ago".

Me: "Exactly".

Peter.