There was a study a bit ago that showed that complexity drastically reduced participation in altruistic activities, while simplicity -- especially exact instructions on how to participate -- drastically increased participation.
I think that's applies here. Using a Mac is so simple, generally speaking, that the folding@home pages seem obtuse in comparison. The pages are all ugly, and instructions are unclear, and files seem to be missing that instruction pages reference.
To increase participation I recommend that a very clear communicator make a new thread (perhaps a sticky) with *dead simple* step by step instructions w/screenshots on how to install and turn it on (circa 2010). Maybe even a screen flow that just shows exactly how to it, hosted on a service with crystal clear video like vimeo.com. Get our mirror neurons goin', yaknow?
Case in point, I'm having my own issues. Where exactly is the screen saver? On
http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/OSX/OSX.html, it talks about it, and say to grab it off the download page, but I just can't find it. Makes me feel dumb, which is hardly what you want in a social endeavor.
Beyond my notebooks, I also have 2 8 Core Mac Pro's I'd like to put into the game, but I really only want the processor power being used when they're idle. I need that power to myself at the other times. Screen saver or idle time processing is perfect.
Second, I did install just the basic install of
http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/Folding@home-OSX10.5-6.29.3.pkg.zip in the meantime. Activated the client in System Preferences, and hit the enable button. When does this thing activate? It's not showing any activity in Activity Monitor yet. I guess maybe this does idle time processing w/o any visual feedback?
