[link|http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/boinc_transition_plan.html|Seti@Home]

We will soon release a new version of SETI@home, based on BOINC, a general-purpose platform for distributed computing projects like SETI@home. Eventually other distributed computing projects (like Folding@home and ClimatePrediction.net) will also use BOINC, and you'll be able to share your computer time among projects of your choosing.

No exact time table yet, but it looks like you will need to replace your Seti@Home client sometime in the next month. The new client looks pretty nifty, it's supposed to be a general platform for distributed computing. You will be able to pick and choose from a list of which projects you want to do work for and let it take care of everything else.

Jay

Seti doesn't make the code or exact algorithm it uses public, I don't know about other projects. They say this is for security reasons, mostly at Seti's end. Personally I think this is Security by Ignorance, and isn't much security at all.

They have explained in general how they search, there are several links on the Seti site in the sience section that cover how the algorithm works.

The new system, Boinc, had better have some security built in. Not so much because of local or server side hacking but because I could see some clever hacker hijack the autoupdate system to distribute their own code and do some distributed key breaking.

Jay