UD is a for-profit company, in the business of using distribuited computing for clients.
They are undertaking a philanthropic project to benifit Cancer researchers
This will build up a huge 'member community' who want to help cure cancer.
In time, when UD offers more incentives (prizes etc.) for their profitable projects, a non-trivial percentage of their 'members' will very likely agree to participate.
All this makes the cancer project look like a simple loss leader. All simple and above board.
Open source is a wonderful thing, but assuming that a company is up to no good simply because they're not on the bandwagon seems silly to me. UD doesn't want to release the source code of their client because they use the same client for their regular business. They don't release the THINK software (the biological analysis stuff) because it doesn't belong to them.
Slashdot Mirror
-
UD is a for-profit company, in the business of using distribuited computing for clients.
-
They are undertaking a philanthropic project to benifit Cancer researchers
-
This will build up a huge 'member community' who want to help cure cancer.
-
In time, when UD offers more incentives (prizes etc.) for their profitable projects, a non-trivial percentage of their 'members' will very likely agree to participate.
-
All this makes the cancer project look like a simple loss leader. All simple and above board.
Open source is a wonderful thing, but assuming that a company is up to no good simply because they're not on the bandwagon seems silly to me. UD doesn't want to release the source code of their client because they use the same client for their regular business. They don't release the THINK software (the biological analysis stuff) because it doesn't belong to them.I don't see the problem here.
John