[school-discuss] World Community Grid

[Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have mentioned the World Community Grid here before,
and it won't hurt to bring it up again. On their site's
statistics page is displayed the number of devices that
are currently participating:

http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/stat/viewGlobal.do


Less than two million machines, out of the billions that
could and ought to be involved. Assuming that the medical
research produces the intended results, this microscopic
level of participation means many people will be dying who
could be saved. I do *not* plan to be the person who tells
the parents of a dead child why their kid's cancer wasn't
curable years before the illness struck their family.

In principle, all that is needed to run the Grid agent is a
processor, enough data storage, and a two-way Net
connection. With various Linux distros adapted for
hardware big and small, the course should be clear.


Look over the Grid site for more details. You might want
to join one of the pre-existing Linux teams, or maybe
SchoolForge should form its own. Either way, see what
you can do--and spread the word.

Joel