The goal of Operation Project X is to hack the code protecting Microsoft's game console. The encryption shielding the X-box prevents anyone from using anything other than Microsoft games on the machine is so elaborate that it matches the codes used by the security obsessed folks in banking and the military.
The reward for cracking the X box code is described at
http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/articles.php?aid=20030023081956
The strategy adopted by Project X is distributed computing, that is the farming out of to as many computers as possible. The essence of Neo Project is to divide up the work among many computers world wide. For more on Neo Project see http://www.theneoproject.com or Operation Project X at http://operationprojectx.com
Mike Cros's Vnunet.com article on UK Government IT projects describes what he feels are the reasons for the failure of many of the current UK Government software and systems undertakings. This list of failures is interesting in their breadth and complexity and serves to disclose the broad range of activity undertaken by modern government.
Cross claims "If anything, the UK is developing an international reputation for expertise in identifying why public sector IT projects fail, and how to fix them. The Treasury's Office of Government Commerce has received inquiries from half a dozen countries about its key weapon against project disaster: the Gateway reviews".
The reasons for failure are both structural and political in nature and probably particular to most modern political governance. These, according to Mike Cross are
The UK government's definitive report, Successful IT: Modernising Government in Action, is known as the McCartney (reference 1) report after its ministerial sponsor said in 2000: "Government IT projects have too often missed delivery dates, run over budget or failed to fulfil requirements.
Vnunet.com is styled as the "UK technology, news and reviews" web. For more on "why government project go wrong" see the article by Mike Cross on the Vnunet web site at http://www.vnunet.com/Features.
(1) Reference [ PM Library Organizational Audit Reports ]