Have anyone tried SETI@Home? I think it's an interesting idea. Basically, you periodically get a chunk of radio code data taken from a radio observatery and your computer analyzes it when it's idle, looking for signs of other life forms. SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, so what you're doing is participating in something with extremely low probabilities. But with the help of hundreds of thousands of other computer users, the odds of detecting signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe increases, according to SETI@Home. Unfortunately, the client itself isn't a piece of engineering work. You have little options to choose from and it seems to be very resource hungry, not to mention ugly.
Another project where computers on the net are working together that looks more promising is distributed.net. Here you participate in solving more "down-to-earth" problems like deciphering strongly encrypted messages. This client is better and uses little resources. But the idea behind it is not as mind-boggling as SETI@Home. :)
Posted by djst at November 26, 2003 12:54 PM