All of the world’s computers working together for a greater cause
I’ve read that the number of personal computers in the world will reach one billion by the end of 2008 and two billion by 2015.
What problems might be solved and diseases cured if all (or a substantial number) of the world’s workstations were working together for a greater cause?
Perhaps instead of Microsoft installing numerous 3D logo screensavers with every Windows install, Microsoft could install numerous distributed computing applications (from trustworthy sources) by default?
As a result, instead of the world’s workstations flashing the Window’s logo when not in use, the workstations would work on solving difficult problems. Of course, these distributed computing screensavers could be disabled (as with any screensaver) if the end user didn’t want to participate.
Perhaps Google could also offer an optional download of Folding@Home with all of their applications?
I suspect that all of our lives would be greatly improved if such a paradigm were to be embraced.
