Thu, 09 Aug 2007
Spare CPU Cycles
Pavel, since you don't have comments enabled in your blog, I will post a reply to your blog post about using spare client's CPU cycles here:
Actually, I've got a similar idea back in the AltaVista times. I think the problem for Google would be a very bad PR as soon as somebody discovers it. On the other hand, even these times my precious CPU cycles (and a power budget) is abused by stupid web sites (like a comment system at Neviditelný pes) who cannot get their Javascript written in an optimal way.
I think browsers should gradually be made aware of this problem: For example, the current Galeon (or its Gecko core) offers me to stop Javascript whose handling took more than 5 seconds). The statement "The browser is the operating system" will be more and more true. We will probably soon need a better internal scheduler for Javascript interpreters running in different windows/tabs (or maybe even preferences like increasing the priority for the foreground tab in the focused window).
BTW, thanks for the link to Eternity II. An interesting puzzle indeed, but why would anybody want to solve it without a computer? It sort of defeats the purpose of a puzzle - to use your brain. If you need challenges for your brain, go play Haluz 2007 instead.