Editing World Community Grid (section)

==History==
In 2003, [[IBM]] and other research participants sponsored the ''Smallpox Research Grid Project'' to accelerate the discovery of a cure for [[smallpox]].<ref>[http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2003/02/06/192324/IBM-builds-grid-for-smallpox-research.htm "IBM builds grid for smallpox research"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126183214/http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2003/02/06/192324/IBM-builds-grid-for-smallpox-research.htm |date=2020-01-26 }}. ComputerWeekly.com. 2003-02-06. Retrieved 2014-04-28.</ref> The smallpox study used a massive distributed computing grid to analyse compounds' effectiveness against smallpox.<ref name="Smallpox">{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2724833.stm
|title=Computers enlisted for bioterror fight
|date=5 February 2003
|publisher=BBC
|access-date=24 November 2008
|archive-date=5 November 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105100639/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2724833.stm
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The project allowed scientists to screen 35 million potential drug molecules against several smallpox proteins to identify good candidates for developing into smallpox treatments. In the first 72 hours, 100,000 results were returned. By the end of the project, 44 strong treatment candidates had been identified.<ref name="Smallpox results">{{cite journal | vauthors = Clery D | title = Computing. IBM offers free number crunching for humanitarian research projects | journal = Science | volume = 308 | issue = 5723 | pages = 773 | date = May 2005 | pmid = 15879179 | doi = 10.1126/science.308.5723.773a | s2cid = 45713783 }}</ref> Based on the success of the Smallpox study, IBM announced the creation of World Community Grid on November 16, 2004, with the goal of creating a technical environment where other humanitarian research could be processed.<ref name="WCG introduced"/><ref name="Smallpox"/>

World Community Grid initially only supported Windows, using the proprietary [[Grid MP]] software from [[United Devices]] which powered the [[grid.org]] distributed computing projects. Demand for Linux support led to the addition in November 2005 of open source [[Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing|Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)]] software which powers projects such as [[Seti@home|SETI@home]] and [[Climateprediction]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread?thread=4224#33880
|title=Linux is here!!!
|author=knreed
|publisher=World Community Grid
|date=31 October 2005
|access-date=30 July 2007
|archive-date=8 September 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908013840/http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread?thread=4224#33880
|url-status=live
}}</ref> [[macOS|Mac OS]] and [[Linux]] support was added since the introduction of BOINC.<ref name="System Requirements">{{cite web |title=System Requirements |url=http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/help/viewTopic.do?shortName=minimumreq |access-date=3 November 2014 |work=Help |publisher=World Community Grid |archive-date=29 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229042852/http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/help/viewTopic.do?shortName=minimumreq |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2007, the World Community Grid migrated from Grid MP to BOINC for all of its supported platforms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread?thread=15715|title=World Community Grid - View Thread - BOINC Migration Announcement|work=worldcommunitygrid.org|access-date=2007-08-18|archive-date=2018-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103032930/https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread?thread=15715|url-status=live}}</ref>

In September 2021, IBM announced that it had transferred ownership of the World Community Grid to the [[Krembil Research Institute]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Geddes |first=Kevin |date=2021-09-13 |title=Community-based supercomputer coming to Krembil Research Institute |url=https://uhnfoundation.ca/stories/community-based-supercomputer-coming-to-krembil-research-institute/ |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=UHN Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Scale of the project===
As of {{#time: F j, Y | 2023-01-08}}, World Community Grid had over {{formatnum:23000}} active user accounts, with over {{formatnum:57000}} active devices.{{r|STATS}} Over the course of the project, more than {{formatnum:2000000}} cumulative years of computing time have been donated, and over {{formatnum:6000000000}} work units have been completed.<ref name="Global Statistics">{{cite web|url=https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/stat/viewGlobal.do|title=Global Statistics|publisher=World Community Grid|access-date=2023-06-19|archive-date=2023-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505195248/https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/stat/viewGlobal.do|url-status=live}}</ref>