For some reason I'd thought IBM was involved with UD, but I just checked their wikipedia entry and it looks like they didn't collaborate until 2004 - the product of that union being this place.

However according to wikipedia again, UD's first project, started in 2001, was based on SETI@Home. But even SETI wasn't the first DC project. Apparently that was distributed.net.

Quoted because it needs to be repeated.

As discussed here in this thread, the concept of distributed computing has been around for quite a while. Sadly though, not much traction has been gained in the area of participation. According to BoincStats, WCG has about 68,000 active participants. Even across all of Boinc, there are fewer than 240,000 active participants. Even Folding@Home, which boasts of it's computing power, has fewer than 290,000 active CPUs &GPUs. So, while it is great that we are able to accomplish much through the dedication, enthusiasm, and high power bills of many around here, the active participation of the world amounts to approximately the amount of people in the small town in which I was raised which cannot afford to keep street lights on at night. Or about 0.000971%

I know this sounds rather pessimistic, but actually, think of the potential! What if work were really distributed? Just think how little each person would have to do to see massive amounts of work done. For instance, if the roughly 1,000,000 people in my current city each did just two WUs a day, we would outpace the entire grid's daily production. Historically, we can see what sort of impact this can have. In the early 2000's, Google distributed a version of Folding@Home via its toolbar. All a person had to do was answer "Yes" to one question during the installatoin. It basically tripled F@H's active CPU count and became the leading team at the time. And even though the program ended around 2005 (well before GPU folding), the team would still rank in the top 75 today. We simply need efforts like this to become more commonplace.

My story is a little different. I always believed in the value of distributed computing but I have a swelled head. I knew I would spend an excessive amount of time following any project I joined and I was very dubious of the value of projects pushed by their own creators. Starting with GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) I doubted that projects were worth the time I would spend on them. Back in college I read 1 thin textbook on Number Theory and decided not to take the course, despite reading "The City And The Stars" by Arthur C. Clarke when I was growing up. (It propagandized for Prime Number Theory.) So when I read an online news article about IBM starting the World Community Grid, I decided that it answered all my objections and would be a well managed grid. I immediately joined. Then I read the fine print.

So I am a little surprised at the lack of interest I encounter. I still think this is the sort of thing that should catch on with bright high school students, much less college students. It puzzles me.

Lawrence

I have tried to promote WCG, but it is difficult convincing people to join. Of those that I have, the first time their computer acted funny, they blamed the client software and immediately quit. One person claimed that it ruined their laptop battery. I removed the client and bought her a new battery.

One person used their computer for less time than the time between checkpoints, so that computer never accomplished anything. I removed that client too.

Cheers

Well said! This is so accurately reflective of a general attitude I've encountered many times lately.

And double plus to all the unsuccess stories. For whatever reason, even the most tech savvy people I know shy away from a client - citing security risks or fear of stressing their system. (Nevermind they freely run napster, et al without a word towards security.) Most laypeople I know think the idea sounds great, but far beyond their grasp. They act like I write algorithms to do whatever analysis. Even when I explain it's as simple as installing any other piece of software, I get the deer in the headlights look.