Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 12:22:50 11/04/98
Well, maybe it's not a single machine. But if we go along with the metaphor "The network is the computer" then the claim has a bit of merit. There are 30 machines in the chess analysis project now, with a throughput of 33 Pentium Pro 200's. If the project goal of 4000 machines were realized, that would give a throughput of 380,191,891, assuming that the horsepower of the individual machines stays about the same. Nearly twice as powerful as DB. If you would like to learn more about the project, have a look at: ftp://38.168.214.175/pub/Chess%20Analysis%20Project%20FAQ.htm Now, when we think of other network projects like the cracking of RSA129 or the Great Internet Mersenne Prime search, we can see that goals like this can be realized. Of course, once you are done factoring RSA129, there's not much you can do with the factors except admire them for a day or two. And I will admit that the GIMPS project has produced valuable outcomes, including the Mersenne Twister PRNG, which has the best known properties of any pseudo-random number generator. But once you have found a Mersenne Prime, with (say) 900,000 digits, what do you do with it? Maybe admire the digits for a while. But, if you are like most people, after four or five hours of staring at digits, you have had your fill of them. Now, with a chess analysis project, you can have an end product that can give endless hours of pleasure. You can do all kinds of research with ANSI SQL queries which enrich the tactical understanding of the game. So why not join?
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