-={ 2021-04-14 12:17:02.619723556+00:00 }=-

Hey Wilfred!

 WvV> So your algorithm based on unixtime has a bug!

That was just a demo which probably is accurate for time based serialno's generated by abandonware which will likely never get fixed.

 WvV> It should take into account it can be called multiple times
 WvV> within the same second.

Sure.  How about this?

  6076da69-1689a348
  6076da69-16bf0244
  6076da69-16f7701c
  6076da69-172abd44
  6076da69-175c7788
  6076da69-179027b0
  6076da69-17c263b4
  6076da69-17f51008
  6076da69-18287584
  6076da69-185be1cc

Note that all of the above were created in the same second and there are zero collisions.  Also note that the following 8 hex characters are in sequence and are indeed unique.  The above routine has a shelf life of just over 2 billion years since the leading seconds hex field is not a fixed field and will expand by one hex character when it is required.  The second part after the ascii dash is from strftime()'s %N (nanoseconds) which only requires 8 hex characters for all time BUT in my future proposal, if it gets that far, will allow for picoseconds when they become available by adding 2 hex digits which will make it a fixed 10 hex digit field.

 WvV> If you do that correctly, it's superior to the random one...

See above but just for fun I will do it side by side just like before.

  6076e0bd-22d50e70 n3yM8uFm
  6076e0bd-246302d4 sL4Irxdg
  6076e0bd-25d0d1f0 8fq4vU7e
  6076e0bd-276236a4 Aez4QZog
  6076e0bd-28f6291c jbQiqKYc
  6076e0bd-2a842704 gElrH3UT
  6076e0bd-2bf24d98 8qmyLLQR
  6076e0bd-2d8103dc Pbeaul1Z
  6076e0bd-2f0436d0 IHsKacHr
  6076e0bd-30a01b60 0An6jRkx

My best guesstimation is that the random one is superior given that it doesn't require a rewrite of current FTN standards.  However I do plan to change that and then for sure the unixtime based one will be superior and unique for all time, nevermind 3 lousy years.

I doubt there is anything better currently in use to either of the above routines and most definetly nothing even comes close to the unixtime based one.  It is a work of pure genius.  :-)

Hm.  Interesting tagline got tossed into the works considering the content of this reply.  It looks to me the Anglo-Saxons might have had working knowledge of the Laws of Thermodynamics long before it's time.

Life is good,
Maurice

... Eal ¨‘t ¨u her sceawast hit is sceaduwa gelic, ‘ll hit gewita¨.
    All that you see here is like a shadow; it will all vanish.
--- GNU bash, version 5.1.4(1)-release (x86_64-motorshed-linux-gnu)