Why Grid Supercomputing Will Just Be Marginally Successful

from the not-quite-what-people-expected dept

Clay Shirky is trying to respond to some of the hype surrounding grid computing by suggesting that it probably has it's place, but it won't be "revolutionary" - like some people have predicted. While I actually agree, I'm not sure if I agree with his reasons. He focuses a lot on the fact that most individual users don't come anywhere near using their PCs to their maximum power, which is absolutely true. However, grid "supercomputing" is not directed at individual users and their computers - and I don't think anyone has really made that claim. It's directed at businesses that use vastly more computing resources, centralizing much of them, and allowing them to expand (whether in bursts or over a prolonged period of time) as necessary. As such, I think there is tremendous potential for grid computing - but it's not likely to change how individuals interact with their PCs very much. In the end, Shirky and I are probably in agreement - and I'm always looking out for topics that have too much hype - but I think he may be incorrectly reading the reaction most people have had to grid computing.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    rumpy, 21 May 2003 @ 10:19am

    Why Grid Supercomputing Will Just Be Marginally Su

    I think you may both be underestimating the many projects aimed at 'small' scale grid computing. Sony is pushing for distributed CPU's in the next PlayStation incarnation. I believe their partners in this research is Intel(IBM?). The point being, distance between processors is what seems to separate "grid" from "distributed" computing, both are trying to balance the load to achieve break through performance. Finally, _no_ market pushes hardware development like interactive entertainment.
    My bet would be on Sony or some other games company solving the distributed/grid computing issue before big business. I suspect it will be the way of the so called ubiquitous computing future.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.