Things I would look forward to and i'm sure someone else would find nice to have also included. A better screen saver made to compliment the projects you are working on like the seti@home and other such programs. Throttle control for your CPU/GPU while working on your computers. Ability to disable your gpu from being used without suspending some of the projects that are already utilizing it. For example my Einstein and seti@home when running use my GPU when I switch it off it suspends the whole project. Instead have it continue the project without the gpu running then if you turn it back on have it start on the next project or the one that just stopped using it.. Sometimes I like to play a game that requires some of my gpu but i can't throttle it nor can I cut it and let the project continue without making it suspend that project. Also sometimes I just like watching the graphics on my screen and only 1 seti project running and its using the gpu. So I can't watch it because its unavailable however if I have another seti project that isn't using the gpu I can even if the other is using gpu lol.

Another thing that would be great is to limit the affinity of the processor so I only want 4 task ran at once leaving my other 2 cores free to do what they want like a game or something. Skins would be a great feature to put out there and let people have an easy way to change/share there skins to the community.

Well here is a recap

1.) Throttle control cpu/gpu (run cpu tense program have it throttle back to compensate same with gpu)

2.) Disable gpu without stopping the progress of a started project

3.) Improved screensaver (More options, project support, Updated Graphics)

4.) Set your Affinity (How many cores to use and same for the cpu threads)

5.) Skins (Create and share options)

I know some of these are cosmetic or not really needed but would be a great thing to see happen. Especially 1,2,4

Anyone else with idea's jump on board and add to this list.

Thanks Tim

First off, terminology.
Project = the project you added to BOINC to do its science for, like Einstein, Seti, Primegrid, CPDN. Those are projects.
Work unit or WU or task or model = the actual work you do for the project, one instance per hardware resource.

1.) Throttle control cpu/gpu (run cpu tense program have it throttle back to compensate same with gpu)

BOINC already has a throttle function that will throttle both the CPU and the GPU, since all GPU programs run through the CPU: use at most 100% of CPU time Can be used to reduce CPU heat.

This will not be a sustained value, as that requires the use of a special application programming interface (API) and that is only available for Windows. BOINC its source code can be downloaded and compiled on Windows, Linux, OS X and FreeBSD without having to add any special APIs.
The BOINC throttle function will suspend the running work and resume it, thereby reducing the heat of the CPU and GPU. E.g. 50% will run 5 seconds every 10 seconds and suspend 5 seconds.

There is no special GPU throttle function, or an option to tell the GPU to run with only X amount of its stream processors. The latter isn't even available from the manufacturers of the GPUs, so no need to ask for that.

Last on this point, eFMer's TThrottle has an excellent throttle function for CPU and GPU and can do so with an API, but therefore is available for Windows only.

2.) Disable gpu without stopping the progress of a started project

There are a couple of options already available to suspend one's GPU:
- Activity menu -> Suspend GPU. This will only suspend the GPU, not the CPU.
- Right-click BOINC icon -> Snooze GPU. This will suspend the GPU for one hour, and only the GPU.
- Making use of the client configuration (cc_config.xml) file, add the <exclusive_gpu_app> option. Then whenever this program is in memory and you run BOINC based on preferences, this will suspend the use of the GPU while that program is in memory.
E.g.

<cc_config>
<options>
<exclusive_gpu_app>notepad.exe</exclusive_gpu_app>
</options>
</cc_config>

The above will suspend the use of the GPU whenever Notepad is run.
You can add multiple lines with multiple programs. No need for a path.

While you can add exclusive programs for the CPU through the Computing preferences... menu in BOINC Advanced view->Tools, you cannot do so yet for the GPU. This may be an addition for a future BOINC Manager.

3.) Improved screensaver (More options, project support, Updated Graphics)

The screen saver isn't something that BOINC adds but that the projects add.
Making a project screen saver isn't cheap or easy. It has to be able to work with all of the older hardware out there, so always requires backward compatibility. Therefore, you may make your own OpenGL 4.1 compliant screen saver, but then have to make sure it can also run on OpenGL 1.0 compliant hardware and operating systems.

An example of how difficult it is to make a (new) screen saver, can be read through Write your own Einstein@home screensaver on the Einstein forums.

The internal BOINC screen saver -- the one you see when a project doesn't have a screen saver -- has had an overhaul about 4 years ago.

4.) Set your Affinity (How many cores to use and same for the cpu threads)

CPU affinity is something else: it's to set applications to run on a specific CPU (core) only from start to finish. This will not be added as it has been tested and isn't much faster than running as it's done now. The greatest increase found was 4% on a 64bit Linux system. On Windows it was neglectable.

What you may ask instead is already an option. You have these options in the web preferences:
On multiprocessors, use at most N processors.
On multiprocessors, use at most Y% of the processors.
Only the last option is available in the local preferences, but that doesn't mean the first one isn't used.

The first one (N processors) sets the absolute minimum amount of processors BOINC can use. This in case you set the second option to zero.
The N processors value will always be one larger than zero, even when you successfully set it to zero.

With the second option (Y% processors) you fine tune the amount of processors or threads. While we're talking whole CPU cores here, it may be that in the future the even further fine-tuning of parts of processors can be set through here. The Y% processors value is always an integer and because of that is always rounded down to the value before the decimal point.

So what does that mean on an i7 with 6 cores and hyper-threading?
N processors = 1
Y% processors = 75%
12 x (75 / 100) = 9 cores/threads.

N processors = 100
Y% processors = 99%
12 x (99 / 100) = 11 cores/threads.

5.) Skins (Create and share options)

The BOINC Simple view can already be skinned. For all the possible information on that, see http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Creating_a_skin_for_the_BOINC_Manager.
The BOINC Advanced view cannot be skinned at this time, perhaps that that's possible with the new BOINC Manager.

One point though in requesting all this stuff, there are only three semi-full time BOINC programmers, who already have a lot on their to-do list.
Requesting features is OK with them, as long as you do not expect any of it in a next BOINC (Manager), or even in the near future. A lot of what's asked requires a lot of additional programming, adding of specific libraries, which won't be available for some of the earlier mentioned platforms and thus will break building or running BOINC on those platforms.

One example of this is that the present BOINC 7.4 has the capability to show images/video and play audio in the Notices tab of BOINC. For this wxWidgets needed an update, which was available for Windows and OS X, but not for Linux. When it became available for Linux, it was bugged. Which is why to date there is still no BOINC 7.4 for Linux available, since wxWidgets 3.0.2 also has bugs that don't allow these functions to work correctly. Until those bugs are squashed, no 7.4 for Linux.

---

I use version 7.4.27 (x64) in Windows 7 Ultimate.
When I close the application, the processes for SETI@Home and MilkyWay@Home keep running and ramping up my fan activity. My most important request is that you change the closing of the application to a standard program behaviour, so that all processes for BOINC and its project activities stops immediately when the program stops, unless you manually set the program to behave differently. I regard the current standard BOINC behaviour as a serious flaw.

I would also like to be able so see the statistics for all project running with the same graphic as simple view, instead of the old and ugly graphic in advanced view.

A "Go into suspend" mode that complete the current running tasks, but does not start any new tasks after that.

My most important request is that you change the closing of the application to a standard program behaviour, so that all processes for BOINC and its project activities stops immediately when the program stops, unless you manually set the program to behave differently. I regard the current standard BOINC behaviour as a serious flaw.

The current standard default behaviour is that you get an exit dialog, asking if you want to "Stop running tasks when exiting the BOINC Manager". If you do not see that, you or someone else on your computer has seen this screen at least once and checked the "Remember this decision and do not show this warning" option.

BOINC is a two part program, the BOINC client that does about everything and BOINC Manager, the graphical user interface through which you can easily command and control the BOINC client. One can exit BOINC Manager without exiting the BOINC client. That way you run BOINC 'silently' possibly without other users being able to 'see' directly that it's running.

In the exit dialog you can choose to uncheck the "Stop running tasks when exiting the BOINC Manager" line and check the "Remember this decision and do not show this warning" option to have BOINC Manager behave as "Exit BOINC Manager yet keep the client and thus all tasks running" like you see.

To go back to default behaviour, do BOINC Manager->Tools->Options->check "Enable Manager exit dialog?"->OK.

I would also like to be able so see the statistics for all project running with the same graphic as simple view, instead of the old and ugly graphic in advanced view.

You'll have to explain to me where you see a Statistics window for all projects in Simple View? Which steps do I take to get there?

Unless you meant the skin? Simple view is at the moment by default skinned with the simple view skin. One can skin advanced view and the wizard screens as well, if one is creative enough. For the highly technical (advanced users!!) how to, see http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Creating_a_skin_for_the_BOINC_Manager.

A "Go into suspend" mode that complete the current running tasks, but does not start any new tasks after that.

Start BOINC from a command line or shortcut with

boinc --exit_after_finish

Exit just after finishing any job (use this to check the contents of slot directories).
or

boinc --exit_before_start

Exit just before starting any job (use this to check the contents of slot directories).
or also a fun one

boinc --exit_when_idle

Exit when there are no more tasks, and report completed tasks immediately.

As I understand the developers, there won't be any such commands added to the graphical user interface, as then that complicates the options for regular users. But then maybe, perhaps, some day in a futuristic GUI they will. Can't promise anything though.

---

A "Go into suspend" mode that complete the current running tasks, but does not start any new tasks after that.

This sounds similar to my proposal for a "Run BOINC dry" mode, which would be a simple GUI selection that tells BOINC to stop obtaining new tasks and exhaust all tasks with non-zero progress. It's a common phenomenon that people who have planned down-time on their machines have to babysit BOINC and make a lot of setting changes which have to be undone after the machine is back online.

Other proposals:

1. Put the event log back as a tabbed item instead of a separate window. I have hated this ever since it was deprecated a couple of years ago. The only justification I recall hearing was that it made BOINC less "scary" for casual users. Hogwash.

2. Allow the user to set a different time period for the snooze function. Every antivirus program has this simple option; it is not rocket surgery. A simple set of predefined intervals would suffice: e.g., 0.5, 1, & 2 hours.

3. For computers with infrequent internet access: a setting that tells BOINC only to request tasks with deadlines greater than some number of days. I used to run BOINC on a bunch of lab computers that were on a network that conserved total throughput/bandwidth by kicking off computers that didn't access the WWW for 2-3 hours. Every Friday I would have to manually abort short-deadline tasks that I knew would not be able to report completion until Monday and thus be overdue. (Yes, I was authorized to run BOINC on the machines, I just didn't have control over the internet policies.) I tried using "keep alive" self-refreshing webpages, but they didn't always work.

4. [Tricky to design, I admit; but I guy can dream] Along the lines of exclusive applications, how about "exclusive websites" within a browser application? It would be lovely to have BOINC automatically snooze and awaken around websites like Netflix, Hulu, etc. I don't want it to snooze when I'm browsing low-bandwidth sites like Craigslist, but if I list the browser under exclusive apps, that's what I get currently.

It's a common phenomenon that people who have planned down-time on their machines have to babysit BOINC and make a lot of setting changes which have to be undone after the machine is back online.

Because the File->Exit button is difficult to find?
Sorry to be so blunt, but there's really no reason why you would have to babysit BOINC for whatever reason, other than that you think it must do something that it does different.

Also, since it's an apparent planned down-time, you can use the No New Tasks button way up front, run the cache dry and report everything before you take the system down. Then the only thing you have to do after down-time, is to "Allow New Tasks".

But otherwise, any work not done by the deadline is sent out to another computer, that's the beauty of the BOINC system. Nothing goes lost. The only thing that happens then is that your system doesn't get credit because it didn't do the work and a possible wingman will have to wait longer for his or her credits. But then if your hard drive fails, you're in the same situation.

1. Put the event log back as a tabbed item instead of a separate window. I have hated this ever since it was deprecated a couple of years ago. The only justification I recall hearing was that it made BOINC less "scary" for casual users. Hogwash.

You're looking only at it from your personal standpoint, and perhaps that you asked 10 other people what they think about this. The developers did a survey and got answers through there and through email from thousands of people.
The consensus was that ALL messages were interpreted as error messages, which caused people to uninstall BOINC. Now, how much help is that to the science?

If you hate BOINC Manager that much, there are third party alternatives that do have the messages tab. Or if you feel so strong about things, and you know how to do it, you can build your own BOINC with the messages tab in place.

2. Allow the user to set a different time period for the snooze function. Every antivirus program has this simple option; it is not rocket surgery. A simple set of predefined intervals would suffice: e.g., 0.5, 1, & 2 hours.

If it is that simple, why not write the code and send that in to the developers, for them to add? All source code is available from this link.

3. For computers with infrequent internet access: a setting that tells BOINC only to request tasks with deadlines greater than some number of days.

When you allow BOINC to run through enough work that goes wrong, it'll learn that it shouldn't try to run that work. But it can't ask for work with a certain deadline, as we never know what kind of work is available in the feeder. Even the projects that have variable tasks with variable deadlines can't tell what deadlines are going to be in the feeder, until they're there. And by that time anyone's BOINC will already have asked for work and gotten it.

---

I have a Windows based computer with 12 cores and 2 NVida GPU's. Currently, I set my list of project to only accept tasks from GPUGRID and The Lattice Project. The Lattice Project is currently running short - 1 hour tasks with very quick turnaround required, i.e. 6 hours. My Boinc network settings are 0.02 min and 0.03 additional max. Often the Boinc manager turns off the second GPU even though there are only a few - in this last case 3 work units in the job not started que.

Bottom line, There is plenty of time for the currently running jobs to finish, and neither of the GPU's should be turned off

---

Could we please have a "Completion Time (estimated)" field in the Task tab in addition to (or as an option to?) the "Remaining (estimated)", populated once a work unit is started?

Rationale:
Sometimes I have to shut down one of my machines. When I restart it it is challenging to calculate estimated completion time for a block of work units to see if they will complete before the deadline, or if I have to abort them.

Thanks.

Could we please have a "Completion Time (estimated)" field in the Task tab in addition to (or as an option to?) the "Remaining (estimated)", populated once a work unit is started?

Rationale:
Sometimes I have to shut down one of my machines. When I restart it it is challenging to calculate estimated completion time for a block of work units to see if they will complete before the deadline, or if I have to abort them.

Thanks.

First, it is almost impossible for BOINC to estimate completion times since even the given estimate can be way off positive or negative by a large margin. There is no need to micromanage by aborting WU. Any un-started WU will be canceled automatically when deadline is reached.

Hi,

Can I add to this thread?

I'd like to see a number of new features added to BOINC Manager, plus a few things need fixing, so here goes:

New feature requests:
=============
1) Isn't it about time that BOINC Manager can "auto-update" itself, whenever a new version is available? How difficult can it be to download a new version, suspend the WU's, update itself and then restart the WU's?

2) Isn't it about time that BOINC Manager supported "in-app" editing of config and app XML files? It's a pain to have to stop any WU's, close down BM, find the right XML file, edit it, save it, then restart BM.

3) I'd like to see some way of showing up CPU tasks, from GPU tasks - I know you can look at the name of the app, but some are very long and unless you've got a 30" wide monitor, or you have to change the screen resolution, it's difficult to see....so, how about adding separate tabs for CPU and for GPU, while keeping the existing "all tasks" tab? Maybe colour them differently?

4) I note that another member has posted it's difficult to calculate the total completion times of WU's....but it would be nice to show how many tasks (in total) are ongoing (running, ready to start, suspended, etc) for each project.

5) I'm sure some would like to crunch WU's until we reach a certain "target" credit total....so is it possible for users to set a project to continue requesting new work, UNTIL the project "credit total" hits a user-defined number....for instance, keep crunching (say) Einstein until total credits (on Einstein) = (say) 100,000, then set project to "no new tasks".

6) Allied to the above it would be nice if the user could switch between tasks based on certain parameters, such as "crunch Einstein from 6am-6pm"...as some projects are more CPU intensive (and hence cooling fans can be quite noisy, so this would make it possible to run in "quiet mode" when required.

7) It would also be useful to be able to allocate specific CPU cores (on multi-processor systems) for specific tasks - so allocate one core for SETI@home, one core for WCG and then maybe further cores to any "remaining" projects.


Fixes:
======
1) In the "Statistics" tab view, how are the project names sorted, as they seem arranged haphazardly to me...so, a nice "sort" function would be useful here.

2) In the "Disk" tab view, the left hand "cake" is far too big, taking up a huge amount of screen space and yet only showing 4 basic quantities. ANd yet on the right side, the "cake" is the same size, and yet all the projects are listed (unsorted :-( ) and the "cake" is over-lapping the project names, making it difficult to read....so, it would be useful to make both "cake" sizeable - you even put them in the same window and have the left hand "stats" shown at the top.

There, I think I've covered a few things.

Now to sit back and see what happens ;)

best regards
Tim

PS All the above is offered in the spirit of goodwill and hope that the BM app can be improved and continues to allow us to dedicate any CPU cycles we choose to donate.

---

1) Isn't it about time that BOINC Manager can "auto-update" itself, whenever a new version is available? How difficult can it be to download a new version, suspend the WU's, update itself and then restart the WU's?

Part of the code is available in the source code but it isn't finished. David Anderson on this: We never finished that feature, in part because we realized that it would be a security risk: if hackers break into the BOINC server they could use auto-update to distribute malware.

2) Isn't it about time that BOINC Manager supported "in-app" editing of config and app XML files?

From BOINC 7.4 the Activity menu contains the Event Log Diagnostic Flags option with which users can easier add debug flags. This window's use will possibly be increased in the future to allow for setting of options as well. The Tools->Computing preferences window has the exclusive applications option, this one may be adjusted in the future to allow for setting the exclusive GPU applications as well.

1) In the "Statistics" tab view, how are the project names sorted, as they seem arranged haphazardly to me...so, a nice "sort" function would be useful here.

The Projects in the Projects tab, the Statistics tab and the Disk tab, and in the <work_fetch> debug flag will be ordered according to the alphabet in a next BOINC version. See this commit added 4 weeks ago.

---

Thanks Jord - thanks for your kind reply and I appreciate the comments :)

Part of the code is available in the source code but it isn't finished. David Anderson on this: We never finished that feature, in part because we realized that it would be a security risk: if hackers break into the BOINC server they could use auto-update to distribute malware.

errr - so BM has been going 10+ years, the world has moved on enormously since the early days when any and every website could be hacked (although I know some websites are still being hacked, eg Sony, etc)....but even so, it doesn't take much to secure a website and have the right security in place to allow this. Any standard browser (Chrome/Firefox) can "auto-update" themselves, as can many other programs, so it's NOT rocket science...and the benefits would be better for all concerned, if this was implemented.

From BOINC 7.4 the Activity menu contains the Event Log Diagnostic Flags option with which users can easier add debug flags. This window's use will possibly be increased in the future to allow for setting of options as well. The Tools->Computing preferences window has the exclusive applications option, this one may be adjusted in the future to allow for setting the exclusive GPU applications as well.

Debug flags are all well and good, but I'm talking about BM needing specific XML files which are a pain to edit (due to their very "wordy" sets of options, which no-one fully understands, as the wiki is written in 30% goobledegook). Simple in app configuration options are what is needed built WITHIN BM so, with luck some better project specific options would be good. In fact, it would be better to have separate tabs for each project to manage this.

The Projects in the Projects tab, the Statistics tab and the Disk tab, and in the <work_fetch> debug flag will be ordered according to the alphabet in a next BOINC version. See this commit added 4 weeks ago.

OK, well "Projects" tab can already be "sorted" - and has been since year dot (IIRC). The only recent change to the Statistics and Disk views was the relatively recent addition of a right hand side scroll bar - but these two tabs still need a good overhaul, as they are stuck in the 1990's design wise.

Otherwise I'll look forward to BM v7.4 coming out - and let's hope they get a new designer to code something a bit better for next year... :)

regards
Tim

---

It's a pain to have to stop any WU's, close down BM, find the right XML file, edit it, save it, then restart BM.

We have app_config.xml now, edit it, do a read config file, config has changed, no Boinc restart required.

Application configuration

What you mean is Restart Boinc (in it's entirety), Boinc Manager is just the GUI, you don't actually have to run it, you can restart Boinc Manager as many times as you like,
But if haven't restarted the Boinc client, the Boinc startup hasn't re-occured, app_info.xml haven't been reread etc.

Claggy

Otherwise I'll look forward to BM v7.4 coming out - and let's hope they get a new designer to code something a bit better for next year... :)

BOINC Manager v7.4 has been out for a while now - v7.4.26 released 11 November 2014, v7.4.37 released 1 January 2015 (BOINC version history)

And with it, you get a shiny new BOINC client as well - that's the bit that does all the work and processes all those XML files (if needed).

The only recent change to the Statistics and Disk views was the relatively recent addition of a right hand side scroll bar - but these two tabs still need a good overhaul, as they are stuck in the 1990's design wise.

...and let's hope they get a new designer to code something a bit better for next year... :)

The Disk and Statistics tabs have just had overhauls. The Disk tab has had new colouring, it will get the alphabetizing of the project names. The Statistics tab will get the alphabetizing of the names, and it just had the addition of zooming and the crosshair (although this function is broken on Windows, possibly due to wxWidgets being broken in this).

If you do not like how it looks, there's nothing standing in your way to make changes to the source code and compile your own BOINC and BOINC Manager. You can also switch to using third party managers, such as BOINCView and BOINcTasks.

As a bit of a warning: it is uncalled for to add a comment like you did about the designer. For really, if you cannot do any better yourself, you have no right to be so caustic about it. The smiley did not help.

---

Thanks Jord for the reply.

The Disk and Statistics tabs have just had overhauls. The Disk tab has had new colouring, it will get the alphabetizing of the project names. The Statistics tab will get the alphabetizing of the names, and it just had the addition of zooming and the crosshair (although this function is broken on Windows, possibly due to wxWidgets being broken in this).

I am running the official current version 7.4.36 (x86) - the "overhauls" you talk of, might be something YOU know about, but for the majority of us, we don't know - as these are not present in the current version.

Of course, I might feel like "experimenting" and using a newer version which might have more bells and whistles...but I really don't have the time nor want to use a version that hasn't been fully tested and checked.

So, I'll be patient and wait for the overhauls to appear in whatever version someone deems them fit to release.

If you do not like how it looks, there's nothing standing in your way to make changes to the source code and compile your own BOINC and BOINC Manager. You can also switch to using third party managers, such as BOINCView and BOINcTasks.

As a bit of a warning: it is uncalled for to add a comment like you did about the designer. For really, if you cannot do any better yourself, you have no right to be so caustic about it. The smiley did not help.

1) I have no problem using other software instead of BM - in fact I can recall using different "optimised" exe files, (such as Chicken Soup or various Crunch3r exe files) that used the newer capabilities within CPU's than the "original" project files did.

So, I'm not adverse to this idea....but on the other hand, is it better to improve something that already exists, for the benefit of all, or slip away to a dark room and build something from scratch for just a few ?

2) As a long-term user of BOINC software, I have every right to expect better from the project - otherwise if no-one offers suggestions or criticisms, then things get bogged down. And the whole point of having a public forum is to allow people to express their views openly.

I would argue that my view isn't "caustic" - no swearing, no foul language, no calling names....but let's be honest: BOINC Manager is over 10 years old and is looking dated, primitive and I'm sure it could be made better. A facelift and new capabilities to allow users to control the projects they are donating their resources to, would be very worthwhile.

Remember: New idea's, new designs and new thought processes are what drives humankind on to better things...otherwise, we'd still be using square wheels, or arguing the earth was flat....or that the stars are just pin-pricks in the night sky.

If you want to "caution" me about having such views, then I'll accept your opinion...with or without a smiley.

best regards
Tim

---

Otherwise I'll look forward to BM v7.4 coming out - and let's hope they get a new designer to code something a bit better for next year... :)

BOINC Manager v7.4 has been out for a while now - v7.4.26 released 11 November 2014, v7.4.37 released 1 January 2015 (BOINC version history)

And with it, you get a shiny new BOINC client as well - that's the bit that does all the work and processes all those XML files (if needed).

Hi

I did a typo - I meant 7.5 - and by the time I noticed, I couldn't edit the posting. I've been running 7.4.x for a while now.

Thanks for spotting this.

I know that 7.4.37 is now "available"...but the "official" release is still 7.4.36 (x86).....that's the one we are currently "advised" to upgrade to.

regards
Tim

---

I know that 7.4.37 is now "available"...but the "official" release is still 7.4.36 (x86).....that's the one we are currently "advised" to upgrade to.

Boinc 7.4.37 was an Android release, doesn't mean you can't compile/build Boinc from that tag for Windows/Linux/OS X (That I know of).

Claggy

Part of the code is available in the source code but it isn't finished. David Anderson on this: We never finished that feature, in part because we realized that it would be a security risk: if hackers break into the BOINC server they could use auto-update to distribute malware.

Intresting. Assuming someone hacked the server, how are the plans not to distribute possible malware to users that download new version manually?

errr - so BM has been going 10+ years, the world has moved on enormously since the early days when any and every website could be hacked (although I know some websites are still being hacked, eg Sony, etc)....but even so, it doesn't take much to secure a website and have the right security in place to allow this. Any standard browser (Chrome/Firefox) can "auto-update" themselves, as can many other programs, so it's NOT rocket science...and the benefits would be better for all concerned, if this was implemented.

BOINC has still the flair of being a high sophisticated technical software where design has a lower significance than a long list of possible 'technical' commands.
Remembering the 'old days', when SETI was a real screen saver only, the gui was the eye-catcher for new volunteers. Design is a matter today (ask the apple users!) as some basic automatic functions are.
At least for the androids there is a choice to use a different manager. Feel free to compare the design and functionality.

Alexander