Mass Grid Computing Around the Corner?

zoglmannk asks: "I've become interested in grid computing. A lot has happened since the last time that I looked at it several years ago during the SETI@home heyday. Now several public supported grid applications are coming to fruit: climate modeling, cancer research, protein folding, smallpox therapies, fighting bioterrorism, mersenne prime search, evolution, SETI, and others. All of these have public interest to make a better world. Is mass adoption of public interest grid computing just around the corner? Is there really a need for a majority of those spare CPU cycles? Or is there more computing power than can reasonably be used for the types of problems that can be distributed to home and educational PCs? What is needed to bring grid computing to the masses? More education, advertisement, prizes, reimbursement?"

Comments

Heating systems

[ballpoint]

With the ever increasing energy prices and power consumption of CPUs it might make sense to develop a electric heating apparatus (a radiator) that, instead of resistors, contains 32 *iums or *ons inside for a 'cool' 3KW of heating power.

Link them to a fast internet connection, pay a fraction of the heatees' power bills and you're in business for CPU intensive, network extensive grid applications.

exploit

[lcde]

What is needed to bring grid computing to the masses?

A new microsoft exploit :D