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What is distributed computing
October 3, 2005 01:44 PM EST | General | Email to Friend | Comments (0)
Distributed Computing is the term that describes the process of using many individual computers to process small pieces of information of a large project at a much faster rate than any single computer could do.
Even the worlds fastest super computers can't drum up the strength of millions of computer across the world processing information. This is the reason why many organizations have decided to use the Internet to process amazing amounts of data using the average persons idle time.
Just think that every time your screen saver comes on you could be helping to cure cancer, AIDS, or search the stars for extra terrestrials. It's a pretty good reason to sign up for a distributed computing program!
One of the oldest and largest networks out there is probably SETI@HOME. The search for extra terrestrial intelligence processes mass amounts of data searching the skies for signals that could be life forms. I think it is quite interesting to be apart of such a project, even if it is only by providing them with a bit of processing power that I'm not using. If you are interested in this program the link will be at the end of this article.
More recently I've signed up for the Folding@Home program hosted by Stanford University. This program helps process proteins and very technical medical stuff. It's far above my head, but what it comes down to is you may help discover a cure for a disease or virus. I think this is a great cause and hope that you consider running their application.
These programs both either run in a screen saver, or in the background, using your computers extra processing power when you are not using. They are both designed not to interfere with your computer speed by allowing all other applications to have priority over your CPU. These programs are not just for Microsoft Windows users either, most of them are compatible with Mac and various Linux flavors!
Start donating your idle CPU time to one of these programs today!
Distributed computing links: Stanford - Folding@Home; Berkeley - SETI@Home
Ken Dennis - http://KenDennis-RSS.homeip.net/
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