What is the difference between distributed computing and computer networks?
Distributed computing is however more pertinent in another context. If I have a job which I would normally only run on a Supercomputer with 16 processors and huge raid arrays, like a molecule modelling job, I cannot do this at home or really on any desktop computer. Even on the fastest single processor pentium 4/ 64bit optron / Xeon etc. this job might take 6 or 7 hours, however if I have a computing cluster of 4 pentiums this job might however only take 2 hours. This means I can run my model 3 times in one day because of these pentiums with their distributed computing jobs. This is VERY important if you are paying your personel by the hour. Also the cost of the hardware is usually significantly less than that which one would pay for the same performance in a macrocomputer or mainframe.
