On 8/31/26 8:00 AM, dng-request@??? wrote:
> Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:42:22 -0500
> From: o1bigtenor<o1bigtenor@???>
> To: Devuan ML<dng@???>
>
> Greetings
>
> There is a lot of hoopla around at present, especially in the computer
> security area,
> regarding quantum computing. So (apologies if its a stupid question) - - - -
>
> have likely is a useful quantum computer going to be for my purchase
> in less than the nest 5 years?
>
> (Just want to know so that I can separate the hype from actual facts.)
>
> TIA

I think you need to specify what you mean by "useful".  I think quantum
computing has promise for "exploratory" or wildly parallel computations,
cracking passwords or solving many-particle simulation problems
(weather, galaxy evolution, genetic mutation maybe?).  If you're doing
that you may be able to buy your own quantum computer, and use your
current system as a front end to provide the user interface.  More
likely, you're part of work/research/hacking group that acquires and
share a quantum computer.

As a general-purpose computer, supplanting today's laptops and
desktops?  I doubt that will ever happen, unless quantum circuits become
so mass-market as to drive out CMOS.  Otherwise, it's just too
specialized, and you'd need to rethink most of computer science to do
what typical software does today.  For example, how does a Finite State
Machine work when you are computing many possible state-paths
simultaneously?  How is a state even defined?  ...On a lesser note, is
binary notation appropriate for qubits?


Trust me, I have absolutely no experience in the subject so my
speculations must obviously be right  :-}
-Bob

-- 
R A Montante, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Computer Science (emeritus)
Commonwealth University - Bloomsburg University campus
--
Whatever the color of a man's skin, we are all mankind.
So every denial of freedom, of equal opportunity for
a livelihood, or for an education, diminishes me.
     - Senator Everett Dirksen [U.S. Congressional Record, June 19, 1964]