"The only good password is therefore one which is randomly generated."
Such passwords are extremely hard to guess, but there's a weakness: Giving out random passwords is just asking for people to write those hard-to-remember passwords down on Post-it(TM) notes. If someone sneaks into the office and finds a few written down passwords, the need to guess is eliminated completely.
Comment on Re: Re: regex elegance contest - validate a pw
All too true, but you don't even need to look at your co-workers Post-It™ notes. Internet Explorer will remember your passwords for you! (and allow anyone in)
CountZero
"If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law