The results might lead to scientific discovery, computing advances, or the discovery of alien life.
Contestants can even win cash.
But distributed computing contests are really about being Number 1. In July, a Russian team claiming to be powered by the Elbrus E2k chip burst onto the Distributed.net rankings with an outrageous claim. The Russians boasted a key-checking rate that was more than 200 times faster than a single Pentium III 550. Suspecting something was amiss, the Distributed.net staff discovered the Russians were using a hacked key-checking client that artificially boosted their numbers. The hack job didn't help the Russians find the winning key, but it did let them fetch keys and immediately report the tasks as completed.