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What
is Distributed.Net
all about?
Distributed.net
is a non-profit organization committed to serving as a gathering
point for topics relating to distributed computing, or the process by
which countless computers work together toward solving a particular
problem. The history of the organization, the organization's ongoing
projects, the individuals involved in the organization and the
organization's short term and long term goals all relate to finding
new ways for computers connected to the Internet being used during
"idle" time. This process is realized through the
development of software which allows computers currently not in use
to communicate via the Internet allowing an unlimited amount of
computers to work toward one common goal. To date, distributed.net
has used its processes and technologies to solve encryption contests
on the Internet. It is through the application of this concept that
distributed.net has been able to develop and refine these techniques,
improving on the range, scope, and variety of tasks which are
suitable for this technology.
In
short, thousands of computers all over world work on a small piece of
a complex problem using the idle time of each computer. Think "screen
saver" that does something more useful than fluttering a Microsoft
flag.
Last, Distributed.Net is somewhat of a contest where people with fast
computers
(or lots of slower ones) compete for ranking higher than their fellow
contestants. Contests take years to complete, so anyone with enough
computing power, and a lot of patience can achieve a high ranking. Some
contests have a random winner (the one with the correct guess at the
key), so even a slow computer can win.
Luckily, the operation of the Distributed.Net client is
highly automated, especially if you use this site to track the
performance of your computers. Most clients don't need any tending -
they just chug along by themselves.
Last modified: 1 June, 2004
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