I'm having trouble relating this comment to the referenced paper [1], which seems to be explicit that its impossiblity result does not apply when synchronised clocks are available.
For example, on page 375: “Crucial to our proof is that processing is completely asynchronous; that is, we make no assumptions about the relative speeds of processes or about the delay time in delivering a message. We also assume that processes do not have access to synchronized clocks, so algorithms based on time-outs, for example, cannot be used.”
For example, on page 375: “Crucial to our proof is that processing is completely asynchronous; that is, we make no assumptions about the relative speeds of processes or about the delay time in delivering a message. We also assume that processes do not have access to synchronized clocks, so algorithms based on time-outs, for example, cannot be used.”
1. http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall07/cos518/pa...