Change is inevitable. IBM's corporate largesse could not last forever, but they have provided a marvelous framework and tradition for another entity to assume. I hope and trust Krembil will continue to provide the same or better experience to the crunching community. My resources will continue to participate as long as I am able and as long as I believe the research is valuable to help in making the world a better and healthier place. Based on the stated intentions of Krembil it appears they will do a good job because it will benefit them and their researchers. Until such time as they demonstrate differently, I will give them the benefit of the doubt they will continue a useful and beneficial portal for entrance into contributions of basic and applied research.
Cheers

Personally not too worried about the future of WCG - Krembil bringing more of its own projects on board, as implied by the announcement article that they're considering it, could also help secure the future of the grid.

Yes, some concern about them putting sole or majority focus on their own projects is valid - but the possible benefits of securing the future of the grid could be more than worth it. If dozens of jobs, and multiple research projects within Krembil are dependent on the Grid - all the more reason to fight for it to continue.

They're also scientists, and a not-for-profit - so I'd have to argue that them just ignoring their fellow peers is not just unlikely - it is a very cynical take, one which is very distrustful. University Health Network has been involved with the grid in some form since 2007 - with Help Conquer Cancer and now MCM, which has been running since 2013. Is there anyone more qualified to take it on?

Moving/reposting some comments that were in the Q&A thread:

Dataman wrote:



Well, good luck to all of the IBM team wherever you go. You have supported WCG in great fashion and are probably looking forward to not having to answer silly forum questions.


Cheers and good luck.




HG515 wrote:

Although points, badges, etc are fun, those are of little importance to me. Returned results and those getting reviewed/used are what is important. What we really need is more analysis resources to review and process the returned results. Covid research project does not have the staff to open up GPU full throttle, We need increase Programming staff to create more GPU projects.....like on MCM. We have a large number of GPUs available on WCG but are highly underused.
You say you want to find cures. We are here to help but we want Krembil to be ALL IN on getting the most of these donated resources. HELP US TO HELP YOU FIND CURES. Lastly upfront and honest project progress communication is key to keeping us engaged.

Ah, well, if things are (virtually?) moving to Canada, maybe one day there might actually be a chance that we (the rest of the world) might finally get to be able to use normal DD MMM YYYY (or YYYY-MM-DD) date formats and 24-hour clock times in site settings at last?

Thanks to IBM for all their support for this project, and I hope that the new caretakers keep up the good work (and that they don't just solely/mostly focus on health topics of research, which would be less good for the broader world of science in general).

Moving over two more comments from the Q&A section, which we are reserving solely for questions and answers.

Paul_D wrote:

If anyone fails to see whats happening here you need help, WCG has always been about science and people volunteering their compute capacity for the good of the world, WCG has now being handed over to a 'Research Institute' that achieved revenues of 10.5 million dollars last year and we're supposed to believe that we won't be swelling their cofers?

Ban me from your forum, close my account, do what you like, I don't have to spew some happy clappy [EDITED FOR OBSCENITY] to please my new paymasters.

I'm done.


DrMason wrote:

Paul_D, take a breath dude. If your numbers are accurate, you are saying that you see fewer ethical problems with IBM - a massive, multi-national corporation with 73.6 billion in revenue for 2020 (and yes, that's with a "b") - than with the project going with a research institute with 10.5 million dollars revenue? And if the project remains committed to open results to the scientific community, I'm not sure what coffers they plan to swell. It seems to me that it would be a massive expense to them, considering the server infrastructure that it takes to keep projects of this scale running.

Whether people want to continue contributing is up to them. But so long as the projects are ones I'm interested in contributing to, and they are well-designed studies that will yield scientific results, then I'm in. This is not the end of the world, people. Heck, this isn't the first time that WCG has changed institutions. Before IBM was on board, it used to be run by United Devices. Things were ok once IBM was on board. If handled correctly, things will be ok with the new guard.

I'm sorry to hear that the WCG team from IBM is being disbanded though. Best of luck to everyone, whether they end up in another area of IBM, or end up searching for new positions elsewhere. We appreciate everything you've done to keep this going!