Distributed Computing at MC

By "Distributed Computing" we mean using the computer in labs when not being used by students as part of a giant high performance supercomputer.  A room like ST304 in the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus would be a good first roll out.  The MacIntosh Computer form one cluster and the Windows Computers form another cluster.  They are served by one server that parcels out the jobs.  The software to do this would be Boinc.  After it works in ST304 it would be rolled out to include the other computer labs on that floor then the other computer labs on the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus and then the all computer labs on all of the campus and eventually even the computers in offices.  As soon as someone touches a computer to use it; it will automatically drop off of the distributive computer network, in less than a second, and not rejoin it unless idle for 10 minutes.  We would then have the equivalent of several supercomputers costing many millions of dollars.  Our students, faculty, and staff could use this resource.  After this was accomplished we can brag to our funding agencies on how cleverly we used their money.  Some of our CS students will be able to get jobs doing the same things for many other businesses.
Wikipedia link on "Distributed Computing."
Written 8:08AM on May 16, 2008 just before commencement.