Sharing computing activity
I have folding@home (FAH) on a couple of my backup machines and think it is great. Easy to give away something I wasn't using anyway to a good cause.
Unfortunately on my main machine I have to choose between FAH and google desktop et al, because if I run both together there are no resources left for me, the user, to use unless I want to work at a glacier's fastest past. The google desktop and associated programs hog so many resources (mostly RAM + Virtual Memory) that I have to shut it down (which is a more convoluted task than it should be). Why does google have to only offer a full package or nothing as my choices?
I have 1gb of DDR 400 running on a P4 2.8ghz machine with WinXP. I do have a ton of storage and I am active on the Internet, but so far after committing the last few months to using gmail, GDS and many other google toys that i enjoy, the only benefits I receive are the google desktop bar and the detailed web history. I have yet to have the desktop search find anything I am looking for on the 1st, 2nd maybe the 3rd attempt. I expect GDS to have more data that is cross referenced or crunched in a different way than ever seems available. I can find what I am looking for on my own desktop faster by poking around or using the search function in XP without the indexing service turned on ( another huge disappointment). What is GDS using upwards of 75mb's of RAM including all the various processes and hidden modules to provide barely any advantage to me if I am not experiencing new and different results of my local searches?
The 3rd party content is mostly irrelevant since many sources offer basically the same services. If my machine is idle then GDS will ramp up and use 100% of my CPU/kernel power along with 65% of my Virtual Memory, that leaves nothing for FAH which wants 100% CPU but nominal RAM. The only winner here is google being able to provide more exposure for its adsense clients. That is a fine model, but untenable for any length of time if I continue to only benefit from the fancy desktop interface and never get any worthwhile results from the desktop searches?
FAH hogs my resources also...but they are up front about it and offer workable solutions that google should take note of. First, how about GDS providing a slider bar to cap the total resources used. That includes All the various modules associated with GDS since there is never less than 4 or 5 running even when GDS is supposedly shutdown. Google could also offer a lowering of the process priorities to give more useful and relevant programs a chance to jump to the front of the resources food line. How about the choice to run only through the screen saver?
Google positions themselves as a company that whats to offer users something different, but as long as mother google always has to have 100% participation or 0% and doesn't offer fair and equitable adjustments to this model, it will remain the pseudo socially conscious behemoth that is has become. I guess if I knew that some of those wasted resources were going to FAH or some other equally deserving program I would accept the situation as something that is a good start in a positive direction.
As it is, I will choose to boot google desktop search and keep the FAH. I will somehow manage to carry the burden of spending an extra minute here and there find files on my desktop to make a contribution through distributed computing to the greater good of mankind. While I don't think Stanford University is a poor, neglected orphan in the 3rd world they are clearly more deserving of a sacrifice on any users part than google is.
JR
Unfortunately on my main machine I have to choose between FAH and google desktop et al, because if I run both together there are no resources left for me, the user, to use unless I want to work at a glacier's fastest past. The google desktop and associated programs hog so many resources (mostly RAM + Virtual Memory) that I have to shut it down (which is a more convoluted task than it should be). Why does google have to only offer a full package or nothing as my choices?
I have 1gb of DDR 400 running on a P4 2.8ghz machine with WinXP. I do have a ton of storage and I am active on the Internet, but so far after committing the last few months to using gmail, GDS and many other google toys that i enjoy, the only benefits I receive are the google desktop bar and the detailed web history. I have yet to have the desktop search find anything I am looking for on the 1st, 2nd maybe the 3rd attempt. I expect GDS to have more data that is cross referenced or crunched in a different way than ever seems available. I can find what I am looking for on my own desktop faster by poking around or using the search function in XP without the indexing service turned on ( another huge disappointment). What is GDS using upwards of 75mb's of RAM including all the various processes and hidden modules to provide barely any advantage to me if I am not experiencing new and different results of my local searches?
The 3rd party content is mostly irrelevant since many sources offer basically the same services. If my machine is idle then GDS will ramp up and use 100% of my CPU/kernel power along with 65% of my Virtual Memory, that leaves nothing for FAH which wants 100% CPU but nominal RAM. The only winner here is google being able to provide more exposure for its adsense clients. That is a fine model, but untenable for any length of time if I continue to only benefit from the fancy desktop interface and never get any worthwhile results from the desktop searches?
FAH hogs my resources also...but they are up front about it and offer workable solutions that google should take note of. First, how about GDS providing a slider bar to cap the total resources used. That includes All the various modules associated with GDS since there is never less than 4 or 5 running even when GDS is supposedly shutdown. Google could also offer a lowering of the process priorities to give more useful and relevant programs a chance to jump to the front of the resources food line. How about the choice to run only through the screen saver?
Google positions themselves as a company that whats to offer users something different, but as long as mother google always has to have 100% participation or 0% and doesn't offer fair and equitable adjustments to this model, it will remain the pseudo socially conscious behemoth that is has become. I guess if I knew that some of those wasted resources were going to FAH or some other equally deserving program I would accept the situation as something that is a good start in a positive direction.
As it is, I will choose to boot google desktop search and keep the FAH. I will somehow manage to carry the burden of spending an extra minute here and there find files on my desktop to make a contribution through distributed computing to the greater good of mankind. While I don't think Stanford University is a poor, neglected orphan in the 3rd world they are clearly more deserving of a sacrifice on any users part than google is.
JR
posted by jcollinsonrams at 11:07
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