I just listened to a recent Floss Weekly Podcast about BOINC, an open source middleware system from Berkeley for Volunteer Computing. You’ve probably heard of Seti@Home or Folding@Home as well as some of the many other collaborative projects out there. This got me thinking about how Volunteer Computing and Cloud Computing relate to one another. Certainly, these are not technically the same.

You gotta love the Mac-v-PC ads. Besides being a big fan of John Hodgman, they’re just plain funny. When I met my wife she was a Mac-head. I didn’t as much convert her as I did make the buying decisions for our home computers. Most of her friends have Macs. Even some of my friends have purchased Macs for home.

col·lab·o·rate intr.v. col·lab·o·rat·ed, col·lab·o·rat·ing, col·lab·o·rates 1. To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort. 2. To cooperate treasonably, as with an enemy occupation force in one’s country. 3. Google Applications   I added #3, but it’s true. Google Applications means collaboration. And the best part is it’s free. There is the full suite of Google Applications where they link your domain to their apps