I came into the program shortly before CASP9 so I may not know what "normal" looks like but it appears that there is a lot more diversity in task names than there has been in the past few months.

I was wondering if this (along with some minor glitches in task distribution of late) were an indication that the previously announced plans to "tie the servers together" and make the Rosetta@home grid available to "researchers around the world" are now complete.

Diverse task names are normal for Rosetta outside of the CASP season. You will see all manner of strange name elements like "ab_relax", "frag_relax", "ab_initio", "save all out", "ignore the rest" and "protein interface design" to name but a few. It is possible that some of this is external work, but the names look like the normal esoteric blend of Bakerlab-speak to me. More likely we will see an announcement in the science forum if they do complete the tie in.

A varied task list and occasional glitches are a normal part of routine Rosetta behaviour. Except in the CASP season when they try to keep things stable, the team implement improvements on a regular basis. While it does help the project advance in the long term, the changes can cause short term difficulties.

One way of looking at it is that in the normal times the Bakerlab team are trying to push the boundaries of science while in the CASP season they are trying to prove what they learned through that pushing.

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