Hi all!!
First, just to say "sorry" for being "off station" for the past three days or so - no problems here, but Easter saw me and my partner visiting her
folks and they don't have internet access (nor, indeed, a computer - for shame!)
Well, 5kWU's reached by me on Saturday which was particularly pleasing: I made sure that I downloaded the "cert" before we left to travel the
100-odd miles to the "in-laws"!! I'm now wondering when to change over to BOINC ie whether to run beta/ alpha or wait for the "official" move. At
the moment, I'm once again running my cached units down (I inflated these to cover the time I'd be away) so I won't move immediately. I'm being
chased predominently by Dirtydevil, of course, who's wading in with 30+ WU's daily. However, Sinchron (where he??) is a tempting "target" and I
might just stick around until then. I reckon Bob is "safe" from me, though I think I could catch him in a year or so... Spectre is very much
unassailable, of course. Although, if I had another two or three years...
lilblam - thanx for your comments and questions about why we run SETI@home. I think Spectre's answers sum up my viewpoint in fact.
First off, I "found" ATS through SETI@home, rather than the other way round, so I'm quite committed to S@h. Originally, I wanted to see how
"fast" my machine was compared with others: S@h was used until comparatively recently as a test (by Personal Computer World) for processing power
(they used a "standard" work unit and ran 1% of it on each platform to see how long it took to crunch if I remember correctly?).
However, I mainly run SETI@home because I *can*. That means that I have two relatively fast machines which would otherwise be shut down when I'd
finished using them. To *me* that seems a waste of money and resource - that SETI@home can use my machines when I don't require them actually suits
my outlook - I generally replace alternate machines every 18 months to two years (in line with Moores Law) and the relative expense of doing so (by
running my machines 24/7 with SETI@home) makes the cost seem "cheap" ie �1000 spread over 2 years at 24/7 usage seems cheaper (to me) than the same
cost spread over a couple of hours per evening when I email, etc. See what I mean? Yes, there's running costs, like electricity, of course, but this
is relatively cheap as you'll know.
I run SETI@home because they mirror my two main hobbies, which are astronomy and amateur radio. Where else could I use the data derived from the
worlds largest radio telescope if not with SETI@home? By doing so, along with the 5 million other users who chose to run it, I hope I'm contributing
a little to genuine research. OK, I'm realistic and realise that the chances of finding ET through SETI@home are very remote - but, if we don't
*try*, then surely we are missing an opportunity that *might* provide evidence of some anomalous signal?
As Spectre has said, certainly the "esprit de corps" expressed in the ATS SETI@home (and BOINC team of course!!) is fantastic. We're by no means
"elite" as anyone - and everyone - is welcome to join. However, we are all realists here and appreciate that running the program (either S@h or
BOINC) is not to everyone's taste. Fair enough, no harm done. However, for those that do, then being part of the ATS team(s) gives a common interest
and a greater goal - the "team" continues to grow, increases the amount of data processed and - possibily - flags ATS to other SETI-crunchers when
they browse for a team to join (as happened to me). And that can only be good for ATS and our teams too - what is called a "win-win" situation I
believe?
I hope that goes some way to explaining my POV lilblam?? Thank you for your interest!!
[Edited on 13-4-2004 by Genya]