BTW with regard to GIMPS, rumor has it that have succeeded in finding a new
large prime:
>From: George Woltman <woltman@alum.mit.edu>
>Sender: mersenne-invalid-reply-address@base.com
>To: Mersenne@base.com
>Subject: Mersenne: New Mersenne Prime found!! Not yet verified
>Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 21:26:59 -0400
>
>Hi all!
>
> The 38th Mersenne prime was *probably* discovered today. The exponent
>is in the 6,000,000s (the prime is in the neighborhood of 2,000,000 digits).
>The discoverer is a member of the top 200 contributors according to
>http://www.mersenne.org/top.htm
>
> As was agreed after the last prime was discovered, I'm announcing
>the news to this mailing list immediately. When the prime is properly
>verified and published, then I'll announce the exact exponent. This process
>was agreed to as a compromise in keeping everyone informed, yet minimizing
>any chance of the news prematurely leaking to the press.
>
> And now the bad news. Since the EFF award requires publication
>of the result in a refereed academic journal, the publication process
>will take longer than normal. It could be a few months.
>
> Tentative congratulations to all GIMPS members for their contribution
>in this exciting discovery!!
>
> Oh yeah, and special thanks to Scott Kurowski and entropia.com.
>We wouldn't have found this prime without his tireless Primenet server work.
>
> Now let's go find the 39th!
>
>Best regards,
>George