RENT OUT YOUR RIG

Free software, in return for your processing power

REMEMBER WHEN we were asked to donate idle processing power to SETI@ Home? Starting in 1999, this distributed computing project analyzed radio signals looking for signs of alien life. The project closed a few years ago (it found no proof) and you got nothing other than a warm glow for helping science. Now distributed computing is a target for money-making.

A start-up called Massive has raised $11 million to fund work on an SDK to enable developers to include the option to pay for their products with donated processing power. You get to use a game or app solely for a donation of your rig’s power, which is then sold off to power scientific research projects, block-chain processing, or other distributed tasks.

You don’t have to witness annoying adverts, pay a subscription, or shell out for any upfront purchase costs. You can opt out at any point without having handed over a cent. Smaller developers can have a tough time getting remunerated for their work, as little ad revenue filters down, and they often have to become an unwilling part of the great data gathering of the corporations.

The team behind the scheme appears to have an agenda, describing the internet as an “attention-grabbing, emotion-manipulating, privacy-violating experience”. Harsh perhaps, but not without merit. Nothing is free of course. Your rig and internet connection may be ‘idle’, but it is still drawing power. Some math may be required to see if this is a good deal for the long-term use of software, but it’s an interesting idea.

Paying for a game with processing cycles (and contributing to science) rather than having advertisements foisted on you seems a fair exchange, especially if you are evaluating something first.