People from outside of our team's orbit use the word "crunching"

Not really, don't worry . I just meant "assigning credits" - "paying" is shorter

Windows has a LOT of overhead, ie stuff running in the background, that Linux does not. Also Linux is MUCH better at using less memory then Windows is, so unless you have memory of 3.5 GB or more, Linux is better and in some cases MUCH better. The key is too have MORE than the memory needed to run each workunit in memory AND still have enough left for the OS to use what it needs. Linux is STILL faster, just not as much if you have a ton of memory.

You can bet the economy has some to do with it. Lets face it, the worlds economy is sinking faster than the titanic. The BS being broadcasted is just a smoke screen. Just getting harder to make ends meet so projects like crunching will be one of the first things to go. As electricity goes up in price, more and more folks will pull the plug.
I don't think advertising would do much good. More and more folks are moving over to tablets and smart phones. Its surprising to me how many folks I come across still don't know much about computers. Try to mention crunching and I get the weirest look like I am talking greek to them. Word of mouth from folks who do this is probably best as we can explain it better than some advertising. Sure, a bumper sticker might attract an inquiry but probably not much. I just keep mentioning it as much as I can with hopes of attracting more voluntees.

I'm placing my bets alright and on the high side: the economy has a lot to do with it. I once posited that crunching, essentially, is only for the 'rich. In a vibrant economy, many people qualify as 'rich' and have high chances of engaging in crunching; and that the weaker the economy, the more people fall out of the 'rich' circle.

The direct solution is to have the cost of crunching reduced. Electricity seems to be the biggest cost for crunchers. Until LENR and its related technologies come to the rescue, indeed if it can deliver on its promise of free energy or substantially reduced cost of energy, we are left with needing to pursue the highest efficiency we can manufacture and drive our machines to.
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