I recieved an email yesterday that was forwarded by one of my colleagues which purported to allow me to:
…have an enormous positive impact on our planet…
Well, quite naturally, I was intrigued and proceded to download the World Community Grid client. I’ve never used one of these clients before but the concept instantly puts SETI@Home to mind, and it’s in much the same vein.
At first I was worried about the impact on my machine’s performance but everything seems to run swimmingly as it did before, even though the CPU is constantly at 100%. I suppose that’s the idea. 99% of the time your PC sits there doing virtually nothing (even while you’re actually using it). This software uses distributed computing to calculate complex things that would normally take days on a custom built cluster. Using the idle power of your PC they can achieve performance that is very very cheap, athough I’m certain it doesn’t match up to the sheer power and processing time that a cluster would afford them.
If you double click the world community grid icon in your task bar you’re shown what it is you’re currently calculating, the progress of the current task, and lots of other info regarding your account and machine.
I’m currently calculating data for the Human Proteome Folding Project.
This project is determining how proteins coded by human gene sequences are most likely to fold. This knowledge will help scientists build the understanding needed to develop new treatments for diseases.
An altogether more useful application of this kind of technology than looking for extra-terrestrial life, wouldn’t you say?
Ron | 10-May-05 at 7:10 pm | Permalink
Stylin’ those blockquotes! :-)
Dubious about those ‘idle time’ screensaver distributed apps….but then I also wear tinfoil on my head to keep the mind rays out. :-)
Splee | 10-May-05 at 7:59 pm | Permalink
I dunno, it’s backed by IBM, so there’s a little bit of credence there. Doesn’t everybody have a tin foil hat?
witho | 11-May-05 at 10:11 am | Permalink
Seems pretty goofy - never heard the like of it!
wedge | 11-May-05 at 3:48 pm | Permalink
im too lazy to read that entry this morning
Andy Skelton | 12-May-05 at 7:11 pm | Permalink
I remember SETI@home. 1997, wasn’t it? It sounds like this one will use virtually ALL of your unused CPU time, not just for AFK time. Clever, but not free. My CPU runs cooler and quieter as the CPU% drops. When I run at 100% the system gets hot, the fan spins faster, the room heats up, the AC works harder, my noise-cancelling headphones get turned on (over my tin foil hat, of course) and the AAA battery gets drained. Dirty, rotten scoundrels!
Splee | 12-May-05 at 9:02 pm | Permalink
That’s why I only run it on my work machine ;)