Flash Player 9 as Network Computing Platform?
Running a site where I syndicate content using the Flash player, I’ve often thought about how one could harness the computing power of all of the computers viewing the content. Obviously there are ethical issues, but putting those aside for a second, it’s fun to consider the possibilities. Especially with the new Flash Player 9 and increased performance, it’s possible to concieve of a project like BOINC (see also Seti@Home) using Flash as an alternate platform. They could even have an API and a library of user-submitted alternative visualizations.
Imagine, though, that you had a task that was easily distributed, and access to a network of syndicated Flash content, say, an Advertising Network like doubleClick. Conceivably, you could program the player to play the ad, and once it finishes, kick over to performing computations in the background. When the task is done, send it back to the server.
I’m not experienced enough to come up with applications for this, but perhaps someone could find the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.
