How is FlashMob computing different from SETI@Home for example?
The wide-scaled distributed stuff like SETI solves problems like ants needing to move a mountain of dirt: Each SETI computer (ant) is given a simple task: work on this frequency domain (move one grain of sand from hither to yon). This task takes a non-trivial amount of time. When it’s are done, the computer drops off its info (grain of sand), and grabs another one. The ants never talk to each other, and if one ant drops his grain of sand, another ant can pick up where the other left off without interrupting the other ants. The computers do not have to talk to each other to complete their work. And they only have to talk to the main computer to pickup and drop off work. This limits the kinds of problems wide-scaled distributed computing can solve. FlashMob computing is on a LAN, so the nodes can talk all the time. This enables FlashMob computing to solve a wider range of problems.
