I'll admit that I haven't looked at the GUID generating formula
Microsoft uses for some years - at that time there were recognizable
components and a description on MSDN of the format of the number.

My problem with GUID's is that my systems tend to be cross-platform and
if I were to use a system to uniquely identify records, I'd like to be
sure that the generated identifiers were unique. If I use a UUID
program on this system and Microsoft's GUIDs on that system and Ian's id
generator on another, there a chance - vanishing small to be sure - that
they'd accidentally generate the same 128 bit number using different
algorithms.

So, I'll stick with the convention that my database instances have a
identifier and use generators within the database. Yes, it adds a step
when putting a new database into a system, but it's a step I can control.

Regards,


Ann