THE BIRTH: Volunteer Computing and BOINC. Open, Scalable and Self-Regulated Federations of Desktop Grids with OurGrid. The XtremWebCH Volunteer Computing Platform. XtremWeb-HEP: Designing Desktop Grid for the EGEE Infrastructure. A Volunteer Computing Platform Experience for Neuromuscular Disease Problems. How to Work with XtremWeb, Condor, BOINC on Top of BonjourGrid. How to Work with PastryGrid. THE MATURITY AND BEYOND: Challenges in Designing Scheduling Policies in Volunteer Computing. Modeling and Optimizing Availability of Non-Dedicated Resources. Security and Result Certification. Data-Intensive Computing on Desktop Grids. Roles of Desktop Grids in Hybrid Distributed Computing Infrastructures. Supporting Web 2.0 Communities by Volunteer Desktop Grids. Programming Applications for Desktop Grids. Network Awareness in Volunteer Networks. Bibliography. Index.