Update: Norwegian database unlocked

Computerworld - The mystery of the lost password at a Norwegian library has been solved.
A Swedish IT pro found the missing database password for the Ivar Aasen Centre of Language and Culture in Oresta, Norway,Information Director Torgeir Dimmen said this morning.
Dimmen said Joakim Eriksson cracked the code and opened a database containing information on 14,000 books and magazines published in the New Norwegian language. The books and magazines were donated to the centre by Reidar Djupedal. The donation also included a dBase database created by Djupedal's son-in-law Wolf Djupedal that cataloged the collection. However, both men died without revealing the password that would open the database.
News of the library's dilemma spread around the Web via discussion boards and press reports (see story). Soon, IT professionals from around the world began to offer assistance.
"It is just amazing how people in the whole world have engaged in this case," Dimmen said. "The people who work with these things love these kinds of mysteries, and they like to help each other if someone has a problem."
The mysterious password was ladepujd, which is Djupedal spelled backward, said Joakim Eriksson, who is the system administrator at SnowCode, AB, in Växjö, Sweden, which makes games for Microsoft's X-Box.
Eriksson said he broke the password on the first try after a software program told him what the first letter was.
"It was really simple when you think about it," he said in a telephone interview today from his office in Sweden.
The program Eriksson used came from lostpassword.com he said.
Eriksson said he will not be taking the Centre up on its offer for a reward. The Centre had said it would transport anyone who could get to Norway to its language festival being held at the end of this month.
"I told them to use that money for something better than me traveling there," Eriksson said.
Dimmen said the database will be evaluated by Aasen Centre librarian Kirsti Langstoyl. The hope is that the database will contain a detailed description of the entire collection so that it can be searched and used as a research tool.

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