Hi all,
First of all let me apologize for the server lately - as they always do, a million things in my life all came to a point at once and as you know, this project, although it is my baby, has a lower priority than school and family, and I don't think any of you expected otherwise, so thank you for being so patient and sorry again for the validator problems.
Now, I've been second guessing the approach of this project for some time now but I've just recently decided that this project, in comparison to other projects, is a waste of time and computing power. I owe it to each and every one of you to make the algorithm this project uses the best it can possibly be. I have not done this. The algorithm currently under use is brutish and fairly stupid. It relies on randomness, which is never a good thing to do. So I've decided to stop the project for now and instead of concentrating on constantly patching up a crappy algorithm, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and implement a much smarter algorithm which a much better chance of actually finding a new lower bound. This will require much more coding on my part, and hopefully testing on some of your parts (PM me if you are interested). I can't put a deadline on how long this will take me to get done, but I'm graduating in December and after that I'll have quite a bit more free time on my hands, so I'd suggest checking back in around then.
Lastly and most drastically, I've decided to convert this project into a non-credit granting project. Yes, I know that 99% of the volunteers just left :). I'm doing this for two reasons; I don't have the time or the coding skill to deal with the myriad of difficulties the credit system introduces, and I believe that boinc should be about making scientific discoveries and that the credit system gets in the way of this for a lot of boincers.
On the first point, I'd have to say that after the initial setup of this project I ended up spending 90% of my time trying to make this project fair in terms of credits granted. The other 10% was spent trying to make the algorithm better. This seems like it should be switched, no? I'm really trying not to be negative here but I think I speak for most when I say that if you are consciously cheating a project to receive more boinc credits, then you suck, and Jethro Tull will probably stab you with his flute in the afterlife. (Seriously tho, I don't wish this on anyone.)
On the second point, and I've spoken to many of you concerning this, BOINC should be about the science, should it not? Yes competition is awesome, and leads to more work done (probably), but the first and foremost concern should, IMHO, be about the science. All of you should feel great about contributing to Folding@Home - you are helping cure diseases! - or the prime-finding projects, or seti, or whatever! You are making a positive impact on our society. You shouldn't need some monetarily meaningless number to tell you that you are doing so.
So, in summary, I just hope I didn't piss anyone off or shatter anyone's worldview, because that's not what I was trying to do. These are my opinions and you may feel that I'm wrong and that's fine - that's why I'm putting this on the forums.
Also I wanted to thank you guys for crunching for me, and for encouraging me constantly - It really did make me feel good.
Now, if any of you are left, and are interested helping me optimize my new app (whenever it is done) please PM me with your email and I'll send you the source asap.
Oh yes - I'll stop sending wus and grant all the wus sitting in queue 120 credits... unless anyone has a better idea?
Thanks again guys,
lemme know if I forgot anything,
Nick
Erst Milkyway, jetzt Ramsey, merken die immer erst am Ende, das die Anwendung Schrott ist?! Die Projekte sollten sich mehr Zeit nehmen, um von Beginn an eine vernünftige Anwendung zu programmieren...
