Interesting question. One that's been asked many times, and I for one still don't fully get it after running the client for a couple years now. Ultimately it was to prove or disprove that 64 bit encription isn't enough. Taking into account how long it's taking to finish I think it's proved 64 bit to be enough for a while. It's also done a great job of proving the concept of distributed computing. The reason I got started in it had something to do with lack of other projects, now I'm kind of addicted to the stats Anywho, someone else might be a bit more helpful...
Welcome to the team!! Feel free to add that T-Bird you've got in you signature