By distributing the work, researchers can lose control over their data. The SETI project has had to contend with a handful of attempts to falsify data. For a project to identify drugs that may disable mutant forms of the AIDS virus, The Scripps Research Institute tapped Entropia. By finding a commercial partner, he said, the project is able to get 1,000 times the computing power that Scripps has available in-house. Some SETI users, drawn by its non-commercial nature, say they want to be careful about the projects to which they donate their spare processing time.
Some firms try to offer incentives like cash.
Others, like Entropia, hope potential volunteers will be drawn to the philanthropic side. Once upon a time, a browser was a novel word. This is harnessing the innate power of this large network.