Google launches $5M prize to find actual uses for quantum computers

Methinks the attempt to create general purpose quantum computers is a false direction.

Once you've played with a quantum computer (I used IBM's online QC) the novelty wears off. It is basically "operators" (2x2 Pauli matrices,etc).

The key problems seems to be that the quantum lifetime is very short and by the very nature of quantum computation it requires multiple runs to get statistics.

It is my opinion that there ought to be a list of "quantum solvable questions". Then there ought to be a focus on creating fixed-purpose quantum solutions.

For example, the problem of understanding particular chemical bonds to improve something like high/low friction surfaces. Build a fixed-purpose quantum computer that optimizes those computations.

I'm pretty sure the chemists could create a list of questions they would like answered.

This would create a market for companies that specialize in building fixed-purpose machines that solve real problems.

In other words, "build-to-purpose" rather than "build-for-anything".

There is a huge market for first-movers in build-to-purpose.

Any ideas?