Personally I've found the relative times instructive, merely outdated. Perhaps using md5 as a baseline and evaluating estimates relative to that baseline?
md5 = 1
sha1 = 4
crypt-des = 7
crypt-md5 = 1,000
crypt-bf/5 = 12,500
crypt-bf/6 = 25,000
crypt-bf/7 = 50,000
crypt-bf/8 = 100,000
This way, with the caveat that performance will vary from machine to machine, there is a sense of the relative costs of using each algorithm, which does not change as wildly with time. It lets people know how bad md5 and sha1 are for protecting passwords et al. It also demonstrates that each turn of blowfish in this module effectively doubles the time needed to crack and halves the number of hashes one can perform.
In short, I'd hate for the baby to be thrown out with the bathwater.
Cheers,
Miles Elam
