Boinc??

Hi,

I know this new guy asking too many questions but I didn' t understand exactly what Boinc is? I guess it is the next project when s@h completed but is it something different? And why people are -sort of- sad because s@h completing?

Actually

BOINC is actually more of a common "framework" that Berkeley has developed which they hope will eventually allow many different Distributed Computing Projects to develop projects that can benefit from a similar user interface. It is far more complicated than my over-simplified explanation but with no sleep last night it's about the best I can do.

Anyway, SETIatHome is developing 2 projects to run within the BOINC framework. One is AstroPulse which is reexamining the previously collected data for some different signals that may identify telltale evidence of blackhole activity and other such things. The other is SETIatHome which continues what we have been doing and will eventually grow into a similar study of data collected from the Southern Hemisphere via a radio telescope located in Australia.

As for why some of us are let's say indifferent about this transition to the BOINC platform, at least in my limited experience during the BETA test, it introduces a whole new way of doing things. All of the utilities we have grown to depend on will no longer work. The stats system is completely different and in my opinion is going to take a lot of work on the part of the stats people of the various teams to try and come up with meaningful infomation for their members. I'm sure given time it will most probably prove as enjoyable to participate in as the old system, but it is going to take time for this new system to mature and people to get used to it.

Hope that helps!

SkyHook

I can add my own perspective to your question as well. After spending such a long time, over 4 years for many of us, with the original S@H it will be quite different to move to something else. As Sky mentioned the tools will be different, the look will be different etc. I think most of us are really glad that distributed projects have matured and are interested to see where this all goes moving forward.

The first time you participate in something is usually very special and can never really be recreated. This does not make later project less it just makes them different.

Cy