In a first of its kind, a distributed computing project is planning to pay users' ISP accounts in exchange for the use of their computers -- and for getting others to join.
As part of the project to be operated by US-based ProcessTree Network, an unused PC can be crunching away at tasks such as simulating weather patterns, rendering digital effects and mapping protein molecules, instead of sitting idle.
"The individual is not going to make a big income off their little PC, it's more along the lines of getting your Internet account paid for," ProcessTree Operations Manager Jim Albea said.
Albea told ZDNet Australia that ProcessTree estimates that a credit will go to the individual's ISP account, or a cheque can be sent to them once they have hit the US$50 mark. However, Albea claims that the exact payment details will not be known until the project is well underway.
Unlike other distributed computer projects, ProcessTree Network encourages people to get others to join and start building their own branch of process tree to make money from it. ProcessTree proposes that customers will get a percentage of the payments that go to the computers below in the branch organisation.
Albea described ProcessTree as a multilevel marketing project, different to a typical pyramid scheme. He explains that it looks very similar, however, in a pyramid scheme people pay to join and never produce a product, in multilevel marketing no money changes hands until the actual service is produced.
"We have people signing up from all over the world, 32,000 have been recruited so far and a large percentage is outside of the United States. 300 people are joining every day," Albea said.
Australian distributed computing buff Terry Collins of WOA Computing Service said the project seems "impractical" as there are so many ISP's worldwide that it would cause massive overheads for the company to pay all its clients.
"ProcessTree and others are going to find it a whole lot easier to deal with IBM, HP, MS, Compaq worldwide, than 10,000 people. So they will be able to afford to pay these companies a premium rate, but the individuals will get low rates because of the overheads in dealing with individuals. This is just basic business logic," he said.
Collins likes the idea of staying at home while his computer chugs away processing data for a good cause. He currently participates in the well-known Seti@home project -- a non-commercial based on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. The project uses participating computers around the world to process radio signals picked up in space to search for alien contact.
Collins said ProcessTree "sounds like a great dream. They get all your computers and when they are not working for you, they will pay you for letting them work for them. I just don't see it producing a net positive income," he said.
According to Collins users will be paying more for computers, electricity, Internet access than ProcessTree is going to pay out.
"I might change my mind when the cheques start rolling in, but at this stage I'm more inclined to support non-profit activities as I know I'm going to be paying for everything anyway and that no-one is getting an exorbitant wage from my efforts," Collins said.
There are a number of distributed computer projects that will gladly use the time your computer is sitting idle to process data, but without offering payment.
The first voluntary distributed computing projects began with GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search), which mainly attracted those interested in mathematical matters. Then Seti@home brought distributed computing into the mainstream, boasting over two million participants currently monitoring the skies.
"The writing between the lines is they've got too much computing power, so they are upping the work done in each unit. Seti@home proves that people are interested in these projects," Collins said.
Another voluntary project is Casino 21 Climate Model, which uses distributed computing to run weather simulations. However, according to Collins Casino21 is still struggling to get started, but once it "kicks off" it will be his preferred option.
