Folding.

sedriss · Fri 04/03/2005 02:37:16

Here's something I think everybody should be doing.
It's a small program that recieves "codes" from scientists, figures them out, then sends them back. Thousands of people are doing it, and it actually save lives.
It's called Folding. You can get some more info from this flash-animation:
http://www.teamshort-media.com/videos/foldflash2.html

Downloads:

NT/2000/XP

Windows98/ME

Linux Console(x86)

Mac OS X

If you guys and gals are up to it, we can make a AGS Folding Team, and see how much information we can "crack".

Make a difference! Help out and get rid of them nasty diseases!

Evil · Fri 04/03/2005 02:46:43

As cool as it sounds, I wouldn't want it on my pc. They probably are just stealing information from me to see if I have AIDS and then send a police team to my house to kill me so I won't spread disease.

Gilbert · Fri 04/03/2005 02:48:29

* Gilbot V7000a agrees with Evil.

Renal Shutdown · Fri 04/03/2005 03:02:26

I have other issues for not Folding, but Evil does make an interesting point.

Kinoko · Fri 04/03/2005 03:32:52

I just got really sick of that 'inspirational' music in the flash, I had to shut it off. I can only be inspired so much before I crack.

Bad Voo-doo man · Fri 04/03/2005 03:41:52

Sounds like spyware...You think if it was that great they'd advertise it on the news and stuff

Gilbert · Fri 04/03/2005 03:55:54

Hehe I feel that there're some similarity with this one.

Ghormak · Fri 04/03/2005 04:49:20

Notice this is hosted on stanford.edu
Not freecashmoniez.com

There's a difference.

MrColossal · Fri 04/03/2005 05:05:38

Quote from: Ghormak on Fri 04/03/2005 04:49:20
Notice this is hosted on stanford.edu
Not freecashmoniez.com

There's a difference.

Yea, definitely spy-ware... Thanks ghor!

Gilbert · Fri 04/03/2005 06:01:56

Hehe yeah, if it's even hosted on microsoft.com, we all agree it's leech ware.

Peter Thomas · Fri 04/03/2005 06:08:04

Quote from: Bad Voo-doo man on Fri 04/03/2005 03:41:52
Sounds like spyware...You think if it was that great they'd advertise it on the news and stuff

Incidentally, if you visit the website, they seem to have had very good media coverage, from nbc, bbc, the times, howard hughes Medical Institute etc.

Thanks a lot sedriss. I've checked it out, and it definitely does no appear to be spy-ware. It gathers no information about you and does not have any bundled software. It seems like a genuine way to help, however slow the cure-finding process may be...

Las Naranjas · Fri 04/03/2005 06:24:03

There's a good chance it's as benign as SETI, or whatever it's called?

Vince Twelve · Fri 04/03/2005 06:35:06

Indeed this program is just as benign as SETI@home and probably more useful (I mean, c'mon...).

There are lots of programs out there that harness the wasted CPU cycles of volunteers' computers to get through some massive calculations in a cheap and fast way. I'm personally a part of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (With the lovely acronym GIMPS). Searching for new gigantic primes is really useful for... well... err... if you find one you get money. The largest prime known to man was recently (just a few days ago) found by some lucky guy running this program at home. I've been running the program for three years now and haven't found anything yet. Someday, though... someday...

Chicky · Fri 04/03/2005 08:42:40

Well, despite what you guys say i think it sounds like a genuine and worthwhile project. I'm giving it a go, and if my computer starts acting weirdly or i loose my ebay account or something, then i'll start to worry

.

sedriss · Sat 05/03/2005 02:08:26

Awesome, chicky!
At least one person is more concerned about the human race than their computer.

And I can guarantee you that nothing bad will happen to your computer.

Insanity · Sat 05/03/2005 04:08:43

Sounds good, I've installed it. Hopefully my CPU won't overheat, but if I do start to notice problems I'll just lower the usage percentage (it's currently at 100%). Thanks for telling me about this.

Peter Thomas · Sat 05/03/2005 04:45:06

Yup, this is most definitely a worthwhile program. I've had it running for about a total of 15 hours (not all at once, though) and nothing else has changed one iota, except that I was lucky enough to successfully fold a protein. Yay me.

TheYak · Sat 05/03/2005 05:04:01

Amazing, half have their tongues firmly implanted in cheek and the other half are scratching their heads.

Really? SETI and Protein Folding analysis are news to anybody at this point?

Squinky · Sat 05/03/2005 05:48:00

I'm trying it out, seems to be working fine so far....

shbaz · Sat 05/03/2005 06:16:05

What should we put in the team name for AGS?

AdventureGameStudio or just AGS?

Folding.

Insanity