Embrace the Engineering Metaphor.

Presents a letters to the editor published in the August 2002 issue of the periodical "Communications of the ACM," which focuses on various issues related to cryptography and information technology. The .ps.gz format has been made obsolete by the more universally readable PDF format. Authors who use .ps.gz may not be able to run Adobe Distiller on their computer platforms. Interestingly, the PDF format is already compressed, at least since version 1.3. It uses the same deflate format used by gzip and zlib to compress Postscript and other content. The PDF format replaces the functionality of both .ps and .ps.gz by providing both typesetting and compression. The author contradicts the generally held view that most computer browsers easily understand PDF format. It is revealed that only a tiny minority of browsers are able to use external programs to pretend they directly display PDF content. Also, there is a detailed information on the alternative public-key cryptography method developed by researchers in the U.S.