24. A system comprising: at least one database; and a plurality of computers operating in parallel, each computer including a processor that operates to: partition a plurality of queries into a set of smaller subsets of queries; partition the at least one database into a set of smaller subdatabases; designates searching tasks to be performed by associating each of said subsets of queries with one or more of said subdatabases; divide at least one of the searching tasks into two or more smaller searching tasks; designate the two or more smaller tasks as related tasks on a virtual shared memory bulletin board; execute at least some of the searching tasks responsive to getting assigned the at least some of the searching tasks; collect search results from the executed searching tasks; and generate a search result from the executed searching tasks.
24. A system comprising: at least one database; and a plurality of computers operating in parallel, each computer including a processor that operates to: partition a plurality of queries into a set of smaller subsets of queries; partition the at least one database into a set of smaller subdatabases; designates searching tasks to be performed by associating each of said subsets of queries with one or more of said subdatabases; divide at least one of the searching tasks into two or more smaller searching tasks; designate the two or more smaller tasks as related tasks on a virtual shared memory bulletin board; execute at least some of the searching tasks responsive to getting assigned the at least some of the searching tasks; collect search results from the executed searching tasks; and generate a search result from the executed searching tasks. 34. The system of claim 24 where the processor further operates to report a raw score associated with the search results.