>From Nathan, for the list
From: Nathan Russell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Halliday, Ian wrote:
> http://au.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/20010203/nbtech/981156900-2685255736.html
> describes new conditions for free juno users - once again SETI is cited
> as a "successful" example of distributed computing. IIRC, we have had
> four successes, they haven't had any...
Yes, we have. If GIMPS succeeds yet again, the finder of the prime will
get money, and fame within the mathematical community. Ditto if a user
of the distributed.net project finds a RC5 key (except less money and
more transitory fame). It could be argued that someone who finds /them/
with SETI and is announced as a co-discoverer will not be wanting for
fame or money for the rest of his/her life. Additionally, SETI is as
likely to make a discovery now as it ever was (read: not very). d.net
and GIMPS are both attempting tasks which are orders of magnitude less
likely to succeed than those they have completed in the past.
As another point, I know many who are in SETI solely for the nice
graphical display. I don't know whether GIMPS, given the abstract
nature of the work we do, could ever really develop such a display.
>
> How will the new conditions described in their terms affect us (or any
> other voluntary distributed project for that matter) ?
I sincerely doubt that many Juno users will stick with that service if
Juno ever attempts to fully enforce the terms:
"[users permit Juno to] upload such results to Juno's central computers
during a subsequent connection, whether initiated by you in the course
of using the Service or by the Computational Software."
(snip) "Juno may require you to leave your computer turned on at all
times, and may replace the 'screen saver' software that runs on your
computer while the computer is turned on but you are not using it. "
Does that mean that Juno will become angry at subscribers who take their
machines down for maintence, or do a reboot mandated by the operating
system?
My ex-girlfriend from high school and her family use Juno as their free
email provider. I sincerely doubt that, if Juno began enforcing these
sorts of terms, they would switch to e.g. NetZero or another adware
internet provider, and begin using web-based email.
The privacy concerns alone of Juno running software quasi-voluntary on
customer systems are chilling. I just checked Slashdot, but they've had
something up since yesterday:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/02/01/2127239&mode=nested
>
>
> On a different matter, what happened to Lennart's offer of champagne to
> the person who guessed a milestone date correctly? Have we reached that
> milestone yet? If so, who won?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ian
Nathan Russell
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