I just read the enigma article on Slashdot, and that got me thinking. Will many people in need of supercomputers soon turn to distributed computing? And will all of our DC efforts be of nearly no consequence when quantum computers come around with their polynomial time calculations? Imagine having one quantum computer performing calculations in seconds which used to take hours or longer on DC networks.
Assuming quantum computers do arrive eventually, would it not be better then to save any less important (depending on who you ask really, but let's say human medicine is more important than finding space aliens eh?) DC efforts for later since the data isn't time critical? We can always decypher the enigma machines later when much faster machines come out, but the less time spent on folding, the more people that may die.
Also, has anyone heard of anything like a company making a multi-function DC client in order to sell DC time to clients? For example: Let's say company X makes a programmable DC softare and takes bids at which client (client being someone who will pay for DC time) gets what ammount of time with the large userbase of computing power, or even distributes client projects among different ammounts of computers. In order to make this enticing to users (those who run the DC software on their machines), the company X could offer a penny per work unit completed.
Would a model like the one above work? And who's up for starting that company with me
Assuming quantum computers do arrive eventually, would it not be better then to save any less important (depending on who you ask really, but let's say human medicine is more important than finding space aliens eh?) DC efforts for later since the data isn't time critical? We can always decypher the enigma machines later when much faster machines come out, but the less time spent on folding, the more people that may die.
Also, has anyone heard of anything like a company making a multi-function DC client in order to sell DC time to clients? For example: Let's say company X makes a programmable DC softare and takes bids at which client (client being someone who will pay for DC time) gets what ammount of time with the large userbase of computing power, or even distributes client projects among different ammounts of computers. In order to make this enticing to users (those who run the DC software on their machines), the company X could offer a penny per work unit completed.
Would a model like the one above work? And who's up for starting that company with me

