<s>
Within	O
the	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
platform	O
for	O
volunteer	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
,	O
the	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
Credit	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
helps	O
volunteers	O
keep	O
track	O
of	O
how	O
much	O
CPU	B-Device
time	O
they	O
have	O
donated	O
to	O
various	O
projects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Online	O
distributed	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
relies	O
heavily	O
,	O
if	O
not	O
completely	O
,	O
on	O
volunteer	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
this	O
reason	O
,	O
projects	O
such	O
as	O
SETI	B-Application
@home	I-Application
and	O
other	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
projects	O
depend	O
on	O
a	O
complicated	O
balance	O
among	O
long-term	O
users	O
and	O
the	O
cycle	O
of	O
new	O
users	O
and	O
retiring	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Projects	O
such	O
as	O
BURP	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
Leiden	B-Operating_System
Classical	I-Operating_System
allow	O
users	O
to	O
submit	O
their	O
own	O
operations	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
the	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BURP	B-Operating_System
allows	O
a	O
user	O
to	O
submit	O
models	O
to	O
be	O
rendered	O
,	O
and	O
Leiden	B-Operating_System
Classical	I-Operating_System
allows	O
users	O
to	O
submit	O
physics	O
calculations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cryptocurrency	O
projects	O
such	O
as	O
Gridcoin	B-Operating_System
have	O
their	O
proof	O
of	O
work	O
reward	O
tied	O
to	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
credits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
basis	O
for	O
the	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
credit	I-Operating_System
system	I-Operating_System
is	O
the	O
cobblestone	O
,	O
named	O
after	O
Jeff	O
Cobb	O
of	O
SETI	B-Application
@home	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
system	O
allows	O
for	O
work	O
of	O
any	O
length	O
to	O
be	O
processed	O
and	O
have	O
identical	O
amounts	O
of	O
credit	O
issued	O
to	O
a	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
so	O
doing	O
,	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
uses	O
benchmarks	O
to	O
measure	O
the	O
speed	O
of	O
a	O
system	O
,	O
combining	O
that	O
figure	O
with	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
time	O
required	O
for	O
a	O
work	O
unit	O
to	O
be	O
processed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
systems	O
have	O
many	O
variables	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
,	O
the	O
processor	B-General_Concept
speed	O
,	O
and	O
specific	O
architectures	O
of	O
different	O
motherboards	B-Device
and	O
CPUs	B-Device
,	O
there	O
can	O
be	O
wide	O
discrepancies	O
in	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
credits	O
that	O
different	O
computers	O
(	O
and	O
projects	O
)	O
judge	O
a	O
user	O
to	O
have	O
earned	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
said	O
,	O
given	O
the	O
exponential	O
increase	O
in	O
computing	O
power	O
of	O
the	O
average	O
PC	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
relatively	O
easy	O
to	O
surpass	O
inactive	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
users	O
who	O
have	O
earned	O
all	O
of	O
their	O
points	O
on	O
obsolete	O
machines	O
—	O
even	O
if	O
they	O
were	O
at	O
one	O
time	O
ranked	O
highly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
the	O
highest	O
ranked	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
users	O
will	O
generally	O
be	O
the	O
ones	O
who	O
are	O
actively	O
crunching	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BOINC	B-Operating_System
projects	O
export	O
statistical	O
information	O
in	O
the	O
form	O
of	O
XML	B-Protocol
files	O
,	O
and	O
make	O
it	O
available	O
for	O
anyone	O
to	O
download	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
different	O
third-party	O
statistical	O
websites	O
have	O
been	O
developed	O
to	O
track	O
the	O
progress	O
of	O
BOINC	B-Operating_System
projects	O
.	O
</s>
