SETI@home says fundraising went well & Arecibo recorder coming in June.

On May 8, 2006 SETI@home reported:

"The first SETI@home fundraising drive has drawn to a close. Thanks to
your help, we've raised over $250,000 for continued operations, about
one-third of our total goal. Because of this we've been able to
complete and release our SETI@home Enhanced application. In addition,
in June we will be going to Arecibo to install the new Multi-beam data
recorder. If you haven't yet donated, please do."

Yay!

Jason H. (no longer running SETI@home, but happy there are those who
do! Even when I did run it I was a pathetic participant, I could never
keep up with the SETI-Jones's; my early machines were often too slow,
and I often couldn't even get the WU's back in time and I was too money
conscious/poor depending which year it was. Eventually I threw
together a network of fast machines and tried to run BOINK, but some
considerable security concerns arose after being hammered on part of my
network by other less-than-friendly programs, and I'm running other
resource hungry programs. Also, I shut off the machines at night for
numerous reasons such as: overnight security, wear and tear, fear
because of too much time and money in software invested in the system,
and during the daytime I'm too dependent on system resources for
self-employment, which equates to money for food, mortgage payments,
etc. I'm so happy there are others who can do SETI@home without the
fears that I have. Thanks very much to all of you who do what may
prove to be the most important work in history!)

Jason H. wrote:
On May 8, 2006 SETI@home reported:

"The first SETI@home fundraising drive has drawn to a close. Thanks to
your help, we've raised over $250,000 for continued operations, about
one-third of our total goal. Because of this we've been able to
complete and release our SETI@home Enhanced application. In addition,
in June we will be going to Arecibo to install the new Multi-beam data
recorder. If you haven't yet donated, please do."

Yay!

Yay indeed!!!

I've been waiting a long time for their new data recorder to come online
to take advantage of the new more sensitive ALFA multibeam receiver at
Arecibo. This will give new WUs with new data to search a far greater
volume a space (beyond what the recent s@h-enhanced WUs search). We may
find something yet...

And then there's all the spinoff science searches piggybacked onto that
also. Some exciting stuff.


Jason H. (no longer running SETI@home, but happy there are those who
[...]
considerable security concerns arose after being hammered on part of my
network by other less-than-friendly programs, and I'm running other
[...]
fears that I have. Thanks very much to all of you who do what may
prove to be the most important work in history!)

Jason,

There should be no fear in computing. I'm exasperated at how people
quietly and expensively suffer all the MS-viruses and MS targeted
malware (and associated spam) that's plaguing the internet. I'm equally
amazed at how most people suck up all the FUD offered by 'security' and
'anti-virus' companies that in my mind are very close to running a
"gangster protection racket".

I secure Windows systems. I know the costs that entails (money and
performance and admin overheads). In the early days of WinXP, I very
soon discovered that the promised "multi-user" security was 'somewhat
incomplete'... I've been primarily on Linux systems ever since and now
never need to touch any MS-only software. No viruses, effectively no
malware, and all too easy. You can even have a similar "look and feel"
to MS if you really want that.

Depending on what you use your systems for, you likely can easily move
over to Linux and remove whatever security fears at source. Best is to
try one machine first just to "take a look".


Keep searchin',

Regards,
Martin

--
---------- OS? What's that?! (Martin_285 on Mandriva)
- Martin - To most people, "Operating System" is unknown & strange.
- 53N 1W - Mandriva 2006 GNU Linux - An OS for Supercomputers & PCs
---------- http://www1.mandrivalinux.com/en/concept.php3