GridRepublic is a BOINC Account Manager. It focuses on creating a clean and simple way to join and interact with BOINC. GridRepublic was started with a mission to raise public awareness and participation in volunteer computing with BOINC. GridRepublic was formed in 2004 by Matthew Blumberg as a mechanism to control the multiple projects from one place. The code for the BOINC software had to be redesigned to allow for the Account Managersystem to be implemented.
About
GridRepublic was founded with the name Computational Charity Project. GridRepublic initially was designed for the BOINC projects. GridRepublic uses donations and volunteers to help host, develop and maintain their website. In October 2008 GridRepublic released the community feature to its website which is designed as a wiki to create a place to share ideas and encourage collaboration in bringing volunteer computing to the mainstream. The launch of the community section marked a shift in priorities and development for GridRepublic. Currently, GridRepublic has sustained around 2000 TFlops of computing power. GridRepublic's website has won numerous awards including being named finalist at the 2007 SXSW Interactive Festival and the 2008 Stockholm Challenge. GridRepublic has also been the recipients of a Google Grant allowing for advertising through Google.
Working process
The BOINC Account Manager design allows for creating a unity and central control point for participation in projects using BOINC. GridRepublic created a website where a single login allows for simple point-and-click selection of what projects a computer owner would like to participate. Upon downloading the application a user provides the email and password to associate with the GridRepublic account so that project and preference information are able to reach him. The central control point allows for multiple computer control. The preferences selected are replicated to the multiple computers associated with the GridRepublic account. Multiple different preference sets can be created and associated with different computers or groups of computers.
GridRepublic is a non-profit organisation, an online application, and software. The software is open source and a customized version of BOINC. The custom installer simplifies and reduces the steps required to join in volunteer computing. Also included with the GridRepublic client is a GridRepublic skin for the simple view and a custom screensaver for projects that do not have screensavers.
