Christine --

First of all, let me say that I hope all is going well with your recovery. I am a cancer survivor too and that is partially why I chose to support this effort.

Next, if you have the time, there have been several posts regarding the US Department of Defense and the Smallpox project run over at Grid.org. You can use the search facility to locate them using arguements such as smallpox, defense etc. Please note that the Smallpox Grid Project was not run by the World Community Grid. It is listed in the project archives since it illustrates the use of grid technology and also since IBM was a participant in that project.

Finally, I would suggest reading the information about the smallpox project that is over at Grid.org. You will see that the reason that the project was pursued was to identify drugs which would provide the best defense against the very real threat of the use of smallpox by a terrorist organization. Many leading institutions such as the University of Oxford, University of Essex and others participated in the project. It is also true that the US Department of Defense participated in the project. Their participation was through the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases with the goal of developing the most promising drugs to help combat the use of smallpox as a bioterrorist threat or a military weapon. Only US government supported research sites could test the drugs as research restrictions control work on the vaccinia virus.

Hopefully these resources may help to convince your friends that they should participate here at the World Community Grid.

Hi, Christine. And yet another cancer survivor here.

If I understand you correctly, you believe that it would be helpful if the WCG stated unequivocably at the very beginning of it's introductory literature that this project is WCG's first and only project, to date. WCG could then make reference to drawing from the experiences of other distributed computing organizations (ie, grid.org) who have already completed other research projects (ie smallpox research).

Making the issue clear from the outset would dispel people's legitimate concerns without having to "do research" in order to learn what the "real story" is even before these concerns have a chance to get started. Your suggestion makes perfect sense to me.

While Dave certainly does a good job of clearing up the situation, still, in terms of preventing these concerns from even coming up in the first place, it is somewhat akin to closing the barn door after the horses have already gotten out. (Not to take anything away from your suggestion/explanation, Dave!)

Given the skepticism that has been repeatedly expressed by various members of this forum, you have certainly touched on a sensitive issue for many people, Christine.

After all, this change certainly couldn't hurt - especially since, as we all already know, minor text changes are considerably faster and easier to implement than are technical ones.

Please feel free to correct me if I am misinterpreting you, Christine. And best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.