[christopherpostill]

From: Christopher Postill
Sent: 22 September 2005 14:48
To: Chris Grant (College ICT Dept)
Subject: Cure for Cancer

Hi there,



Myself and others have been thinking and we have come up with an idea that we think is pretty cool…

We are part of a team that use a program called find-a-drug to number-crunch proteins which in turn helps find a cure for the major diseases around the globe such as Cancer, HIV and Malaria. The program only runs when computers are idle, and does not affect performance while in use, using a very small amount of memory running in the background.

A lot of the computers are just left on during the day with no-one logged on, wasting power – surely they could be using the idle time to run this program and number crunch to help medical research – this is a project directly linked with oxford university.



Even if it was trialled in one ICT room?



Reply gratefully appreciated

Chris

Thanks for your suggestion. Several users have suggested implemetations of similar software technology in previous years - Folding / SETI etc. - but until now I have not been aware of this one.

The use of such applications for research is highly commendable, but unfortunately not suitable for the college network. I'm sure you understand from reading the Alton College Computer Usage Agreement, that the college network is provided with the specific aim of supporting your studying and we do not wish to compromise this in any way by introducing applications not directly related to college studies.

I'm sorry we cannot accommodate the application for you, but good luck to you and your team with your number-crunching!

Chris

Oh well

[Me__2001]

well atleast he gave a reasonable explanation all i got was NO

[muckshifter]

Chris ... I commend you for asking.

[Ian]

Nice try guys Would have been amazing if they had added it