A rant to climateprediction

I just posted the following on the climateprediction website. I had to read past links that mentioned 'classic' experiments (Huh?) and the Open University (Huh?), and a 'Contact' page that didn't have any contacts. Then I got to the discussions and managed to ignore the three different types of 'visualisation' (one of which doesn't seem to work any more) and found a "wish" discussion. I have a few wishes, so I posted:



I am in awe of what has been achieved with BOINC and with climateprediction, and I ran SETI from the early days. The sheer existence of creating anything that can be distributed successfully to 100,000s of users was an enormous achievement. Creating climateprediction was an enormous achievement. But (there's always a but) while those achievements were awesome technical feats the barrier to adoption isn't a technological one any more. Overcoming the real barrier to uptake today requires different skills and thinking.

I have talked with many who tried to run this and gave up, I notice that only 15% of those that ever signed up are still active. The ease of use hurdle for the computer user of today is just too high. All the information is there, all the technology is there but it's just too hard to get to it and use it. I know that you did it, I know that thousands have done it but I know that the main reason 10,000,000 people are NOT using it is simply the ease of use. There are a billion computers in the world - just 1% of those would be a computer 1,000 times more powerful than anything that exists today. We have everything we need apart from a simplification and streamlining of what already exists.

The big technology issues have been solved and now it's time to push it to a place where it's really really easy. Live Earth will provide massive publicity for doing something about climate change. I intend to help with this (I just launched a blog http://tenmilliondesktops.blogspot.com/ to get this started by finding people that can help raise the profile of climate prediction through Live Earth and other means).

If you look at BOINC and you look at www.GridRepublic.com you can see how something can be done to make it easy for a 55 year old Art teacher to use (rather than a 22 year old comp sci major). BOINC is a disaster (an enormous achievement, but a user disaster). GridRepublic is software as people want and like software. Simple. Three steps. Pretty pictures. Hard stuff tucked away. I have no link with gridrepublic, I'm just a user who got very frustrated with BOINC over the years and think GR are a bolt of light from the blue.

It's time to make the same transformation in all other parts of the user experience.

My wish is multiple:
1) New client that looks good - not like Win98 interface.
2) New client that hides all the 'messages' stuff
3) Client that has stats that actually say what they are measuring (what IS the vertical? the chart doesn't say)
4) Three-click installation process
5) Screensaver that actually works. The version I have running on 4 computers tells me to CTRL-click various letters to see different views - all that does is stop the screensaver.
6) Much much shorter work units (why not upload at intervals and let multiple people create a single run?)
7) Website overhaul (yes, this website). Created in 2002 I expect nothing has been fundamentally altered - it's just grown like topsy and looks old. There is 10x too much information on it for the type of user that you should be attracting now. Also a lot of the information here, at BOINC, embedded in the model and the client is just plain wrong.
8) Client that tells you what you need to do to make things better and helps you do so "Hey, thanks for all you're doing - right now we need a little more disc to run your model. Can you click this link and select a new allowance for us from the drop-down? We promise we won't take it all, and you can always change it back later. Thanks!"
9) Client that pretty much assumes you're running just ONE project on just ONE computer (that's how most users think). I know you don't need a project manager to run one project - but you need a project manager to run one USER - to make it easy for them to understand and control what's going on.

I expect that every single one of these features will have removed 10,000 users from the experiment - that's 90,000, or about the number that are running today. With Live Earth coming up we should be challenging every band that's playing, every reporter, AL Gore, and every sponsor to be running this software. If I can raise the money I'll put an ad on TV asking people to log on and download and get started. We can't ask them to when the interface looks like it does now.

I know it's a major undertaking, and I know you don't have the resources, and I know half the issues are BOINC related - but I believe now is the time, and now is the time that those resources should become available - visibility is support and that translates into time, money, and equipment.

We can have 10x as many people running this. 100x times. 1,000x is not a silly idea. The big issue isn't whether it runs on Linux or whether it runs on quad-core with maximum efficiency. The issue is why it isn't running on my Dad's computer. The problem isn't the client capabilities or my Dad's computer - it's my Dad. And let me tell you, there are millions of people like him, and he ain't gonna change. So we/you must.

If you want to contact directly me with support or explanations of why this can't be done do so through :
http://tenmilliondesktops.blogspot.com/

I've registered some other URLs that should be a bit easier as soon as I can get them all linked together right.

Meanwhile think about what I'm saying here, and feel free to copy it around. If you get a chance find an *average* person (someone who thinks an iPod is a bit tricky to master) and ask them to run climateprediction. Give them just one URL to get them started and then sit and watch what they do, and listen to what they say and what they think. No helping. See if they succeed.

All of what has been done here is totally awesome - the most powerful computer on earth. It is just incredible. And it can be 100x more incredible just by tuning into the next phase - the people with the VCR (yes they still have a VCR) that flashes 12:00. If we want users we have to go to where they are - physically and mentally. The good news there are many many millions of them who would all be happy to help if we can help them.

Thanks for listening

Quentin