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We Need to Be Advocates of our Cause!

P

Poritz

Member
We have all thought of it before. What if all the computers in the world had their idle cycles utilized. Then we think more rationally. What if 5% of all the computers of all computers had their idle cycles utilized. We truely don't know what we could accomplish. We do know that the accomplishments would be incredible. Nobody knows that better than the DC community.

We need to be advocates of our cause. We need to form an organization that advocates all forms of DC. We at the very minimum need to have a web site that's sole purpose is to educate the masses of the benefits of DC. We need to cease preaching to the choir and form a team to make this come to fruition. We need to do this as a team because as members of the DC community we know that the best way to accomplish things is by accommplishing them together.

Let's do this. We stand to benefit from this as a TeAm because we can use this as an opportunity to discreetly promote ourselves. Team AnandTech can be used as a brilliant example of the many facets of Distributed Computing.

What are the TeAm's sentiments on the proposition.

-Poritz
 
As a longtime member of Team Anandtech I can tell you that a great many of us echo your thoughts. I only wish the management of Anandtech felt the same way.
rolleye.gif
😱 :disgust: Maybe someday, maybe... 🙂
 
I hope at some point in the future we will be able to "sell" our spare CPU cycles for a bit o' cash, while simultanously helping a cause that we believe in.

 
Wasn't there some sort of "pay for bandwidth testing project" a while back? Something about it using your broadband connection to test the available bandwidth of customers? I can't remember the name of the program.
 
Robor,
The programs you're talking about are Capcal and Porivo.
I've both still running on my comp, Porivo doing fine, but paying not much. Capcal is a bit buggy in connecting to the main server.
 
...and the book I am writing now will focus on the benefits of the Technology to Society and the World not the Nightmare that we were put through over it. I say "we" because it was everyone both here at TeAm Anandtech as well as the entire Internet Community Worldwide that were involved in my case.

The freemcowen.com website is staying up and re-dedicated to the casue of not just education about what one Govt entity did but to promote the cause of DC as well. I will be adding to it in the next few weeks to reflect that.

Dave McOwen
http://www.freemcowen.com
 
Networkman, I bow to your license plate. Awesome! (Nice wheels, too, btw).

I totally agree with the overall sentiment. I think that nearly all of TA started up because someone else was doing it, and we wanted to know what it was about. I did a little Seti a couple years back on my own initiative (before I'd started to take an interest in the hardware scene and arrived at Anandtech), but it was only for a little while. The TeAm definitely is encouraging. Everyday, TA gets new members from people who want to see what it's about. I think the main thing is the spirit of belonging to a community and of giving back, not only to that community but to the larger communities that we find ourselves in. Sure, some people feel they give enough by donating to charities, but this is one charity which doesn't cost anything, just taking a few minutes to download and install a client.

I definitely think that it's a worthwhile idea to have outspoken advocates for DC, to bring it into the public eye, and to bring forth the waste... the newspapers and magazines write of the things we'll be able to do in the future with more processing power: face recognition, identification, "human-like" AI. We're wasting a resource now, one that we can't get back. That resource is time. Every second, another bit of unused processing power slides behind us, another bit that is gone forever. And that little bit, being continuously thrown out with the ticking clock, is more powerful than the top supercomputers in the world combined. That little bit could be used to further our understanding of the universe around us, provide more security for business, or perhaps find a gene that is responsible for cancer, or find a treatment for AIDS. And it benefits us all to have these things sooner, rather than later; to save lives and to enrich them. It's never too late to get involved. The clock is ticking...

<G>
 
Robor: We do not need to rely on AnandTech to provide a place. We just need 30 smackers and a little bit of server space and bandwidth and then go soliciting big companies for corporate sponsorship. Similar to PBS and NPR.

Evadman: I completely agree with you. That is one of my hopes too. One day I dream that my desire for more bandwidth will pay for itself.

I tried both of those projects but neither were feasible.

David McOwen: I am glad to here that you will be adding that to your site. I am even more excited to here that you have a book in the works. Please let everyone know when it hits the shelves. Your celebrity status will help bring more people into the fold and educate them through your book.

Networkman: Your plate is wicked. So much dedication, and TeAm loyalty!

m0ti: Your second paragraph is very nice and explains very well that the time is now and the technology is here. I 100% agree and I believe everyone else here does as well. We need to get our story on the cover of a major newsweekly. We could get things rolling in government if we had that. Imagine the impact if Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report, or the CSM were to run a cover article on DC.

Thanks for your responses. What do the other members of the TeAm think? There are more than seven people on the TeAm!

-Poritz
 
Well I was hoping that there would be a little more response from the TeAm but I suppose not. I had been thinking about donating the domain name and turning the project over to more capable hands when it comes to web design and development. I have zero knowledge of web design and every attempt has resulted in a sad, unprofessional looking site. I hope someone else is interested too.

-Poritz
 
What about modelling this TeAm thing on sponsorships in the athletic world today. For example, We could get a computer company to sponsor us in some DC project (which would amount to a bunch of machines or cash for machines, etc). We would be team COMPANYNAME or whatever and we'd be given a major boost in resources to allow us to do more ... Sort of like how there's a Bud car in NASCAR ....

Also, once one group successfully gets sponsored in this way it will have a domino effect since this would bring increased visibility for the company brand name and no one likes it when their competitors are getting sole access to a new and unique branding technique.
 
Great Ideas Everyone!

Now how are we going to get this started. We have a very loose plan, so lets get the ball rolling here. When we decide on the org's name let me know and the domain name will be there.

-Poritz
 
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