Lost job due to installing SETI software... Dave???

[SpatiallyAware]

That's where you're off. You're talking about a single school. He was the admin for an entire district. There could have been, and likely was, several thousand computers in that school district. Your estimate is likely way under what was being used. A local school district to me has easily over 1000 computers and it's one of the more decent school districts in Mississippi (known for being low in every ranking imaginable). I can safely assume the district this guy worked for has more computers than the one I'm in. It wouldn't be hard for the guy to include a copy of SETI on each computer image.

Also your generous 100w estimate seems low. This chart shows some P4s (likely what the district had a majority of) can use as much as 200w at full load and I believe that's just the processor's wattage, not the entire system. Think of several thousand computers using more than 200w+ going 24/7.

This, I don't remember the exact number but I believe it was 4000++ computers. I could see this being a MAJOR issue and I'm surprised people are pissed that he was fired.


If I had a network admin who installed seti on our computers at work I would seriously question his capabilities as an IT professional. IMHO firing him for seti alone is completely justified. Not work related, detrimental to corp resources, etc etc etc.





That guy is an idiot.

 

[Specop 007]

I wonder if getting fired is going to send this guy over the deep end like Dave.

Of course not. We have Hope and Change. This guy will have everything he needs provided to him via taxation of those of us that work. Make sure to work a little extra for this guy ok? And Dave is enjoying his free life you provide him as well, although he could use a new TV.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

SETI is such a horrible waste of valuable computational resources. That power should be going to something useful like F@H. This is the only area where I disagree with His Holiness, Lord Sagan.

 

[Nik]

a million dollars worth of damage?? HAHAHAHAHAHA

1) the man-hours required to go through and delete the software off of all the machines

2) added electricity while machines run under load

3) added $$$ for bandwidth

the list goes on

Although, back in the day, people were getting PAID to do SETI if they had it running on a certain number of machines or more.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I wish large organization would install Boinc type stuff on all their PCs. Not for SETI but for the ones that research cures for diseases and things like that. Imagine the ridiculous amounts of crunching that could be done via major corporations since most people leave their PCs on over night. It'd be a HUGE publicity opportunity.

Ahh I only assumed he did it to one school. We can't forget though that these computers would normally be on anyway, so we only have to consider the difference between low load and full load.

Though looking at those graphs I did not figure the difference was that big. It's not 100w, but one of them is pretty close to that.

But if they're going to start charging people for wasting electricity in public buildings they should also start nailing janitors who forget to turn off the lights, people who heat their coffee every single day, teachers who put the heat up too high in their class, etc... (no, they should not really do this, but just comparing here).

Though in the end I don't think what he did was right. It could have been approached a better way such as him asking permission. Come to think of it, if my IT manager was not such an asshole I'd suggest we run F@H on the hospital computers. It only makes sense to try to find cures through DC... in a hospital. But no way he'd say yes to something like that so best to not even bother.

 

[l0cke]

So, would it be the same if he was running F@H?

 

[aigomorla]

actually you guys who have used boinc should know it does put stress on your system.

Not as much as F@H or Prime would do, but it does heat up your processors, and eat up its life.

Here is an example of what BOINC is incase you guys dont know:

I dont SETI, but i WCG, so its the same stuff, only different area of boinc.

To a school that first doesnt have the budget to replace machines, i dont think he should of installed that without permission.

Second, i have lost a ton of hardware.. mostly RAM, due to boinc. I still do, but i see it as a price to run boinc.

Lastly, engineers have stated that every 10C your cpu runs cooler, you double its life.
From idle to load, its about 20-30C so he just cut the life by a grip. And to a school who doesnt upgrade very often, doubling hardware life = financial win.

 

[brxndxn]

Stealing computers and downloading porn at work is irrelevant. This is all about our right to free speach by using all available resources to search for the truth that the government is trying to cover up, by persecuting this man unnecessarily. Dont you want to know whats "out there"? And if he has to steal computers and download porn at work to satisfy his other needs, how is this wrong?

All this story does is show how much our media sucks even more than this administrator.

 

[KK]

The lead State prosecutor wrote in the court documents that he spent over a $1 million himself during his 18 month investigation.

I still have all the documents, they fill a case that held reams of paper.

I was supposed to finish a book on it and someone mentioned a screen play and that they were trying to get Nicolas Cage to play me. Never got another writer to help finish it so the movie project was scrapped too.

G4 did do a short documentary on it, NBC Channel 11 in Atlanta and the BBC did as well.

LOL, Nicolas Cage, I can't believe he'd turn down the roll of a bald fat middle age guy.

 

[dirtboy]

The lead State prosecutor wrote in the court documents that he spent over a $1 million himself during his 18 month investigation.

I still have all the documents, they fill a case that held reams of paper.

I was supposed to finish a book on it and someone mentioned a screen play and that they were trying to get Nicolas Cage to play me. Never got another writer to help finish it so the movie project was scrapped too.

G4 did do a short documentary on it, NBC Channel 11 in Atlanta and the BBC did as well.

You're so full of yourself. Nobody would buy a book nor watch a screen play based on your life of illegally installing crap on work computers and posting in P&N during the rest of your time.

You should be lucky you got away with the crime you committed so easily.

 

[0roo0roo]

A cpu going from 0 to 100 use is not going to use millions worth of electricity! Like, really.

Last I checked my PC there's only a couple 10ths of an amp difference between normal load (what they are paying for anyway) and full load. So maybe 12w per PC give or take was being used extra. If they're going to sue people for electricity use, may as well sue the students for not turning off the monitor after they're done, because that uses more power then anything especially if they're still using CRTs (couple amps each, so about 200w).

Lets be generous and assume that 100w per PC was being used that should not have been. They don't mention how many PCs in that school so lets be totally off the wall here and say 1000. So that's 100kwh which costs approx 570 cents per hour which comes up to an additional 424,080 extra cents in total per month. If my calculation is correct that would be 4,240 bucks a month extra. So while it is a lot, it's not even close to a million bucks.

That's where you're off. You're talking about a single school. He was the admin for an entire district. There could have been, and likely was, several thousand computers in that school district. Your estimate is likely way under what was being used. A local school district to me has easily over 1000 computers and it's one of the more decent school districts in Mississippi (known for being low in every ranking imaginable). I can safely assume the district this guy worked for has more computers than the one I'm in. It wouldn't be hard for the guy to include a copy of SETI on each computer image.

Also your generous 100w estimate seems low. This chart shows some P4s (likely what the district had a majority of) can use as much as 200w at full load and I believe that's just the processor's wattage, not the entire system. Think of several thousand computers using more than 200w+ going 24/7.

bingo, he was pretty far off the mark. even modern cpus which are better behaved at idle will suck down quite a load when going full throttle. considernig most states are in the sh*ts in terms of finances, a couple hundred or thousand computers going 24/7 not to mention extra cooling bills for air con and seti will eat a decent amount of cash.

 

[Itchrelief]

Ahh I only assumed he did it to one school. We can't forget though that these computers would normally be on anyway, so we only have to consider the difference between low load and full load.

Though looking at those graphs I did not figure the difference was that big. It's not 100w, but one of them is pretty close to that.

But if they're going to start charging people for wasting electricity in public buildings they should also start nailing janitors who forget to turn off the lights, people who heat their coffee every single day, teachers who put the heat up too high in their class, etc... (no, they should not really do this, but just comparing here).

Though in the end I don't think what he did was right. It could have been approached a better way such as him asking permission. Come to think of it, if my IT manager was not such an asshole I'd suggest we run F@H on the hospital computers. It only makes sense to try to find cures through DC... in a hospital. But no way he'd say yes to something like that so best to not even bother.

You also have to take into account that any system set to go to sleep or hibernate will not do so while a distributed computing program is running on it. This can further increase the costs beyond just an idle vs. load comparison. The district may also have many people who leave the computers on overnight and count on it going to sleep or hibernating instead of turning them off.

And yes, I fully support prosecuting people who heat their coffee every single day, IF they do it using their neighbor's electricity without permission. Or firing the janitor who leaves the lights on IF he intentionally goes around the whole building and turns on as many lights as he can in order to brighten the night for all mankind to enjoy. Your slippery-slope analogies are flawed IMO.

I'm sure your hospital would be more than willing to let you install F@H on their non-critical machines if you are willing to foot the power bill and guarantee none of them will conk out prematurely.

I run F@H at home but there is no way I'd put it on anyone else's machine without permission. This point is made explicitly clear to all F@H donaters. Not only are you infringing upon the rights of others, you are potentially harming the reputation of F@H as well.

 

[JD50]

the lead state prosecutor wrote in the court documents that he spent over a $1 million himself during his 18 month investigation.

I still have all the documents, they fill a case that held reams of paper.

i was supposed to finish a book on it and someone mentioned a screen play and that they were trying to get nicolas cage to play me. never got another writer to help finish it so the movie project was scrapped too.

G4 did do a short documentary on it, nbc channel 11 in atlanta and the bbc did as well.

ahahahaaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahah