1. A software platform for providing grid computing on a network of computing nodes in mutual data communication, comprising: a configurable service container executable at said nodes, said container comprising message dispatching, communication, network membership and persistence modules, and host pluggable service modules; wherein when executed at said nodes at least one instance of said container includes a membership service module for maintaining network connectivity between said nodes, at least one instance of said container includes a scheduler service module configured to receive one or more tasks from a client and schedule said tasks on at least one of said nodes, and at least one instance of said container includes an executor service module for receiving one or more tasks from said scheduler service module, executing said tasks so received and returning at least one result to said scheduler service module.