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Subject: Re: Is a third native concept important, questions for a new poll ?

Author: Mogens Larsen

Date: 09:52:35 05/16/01

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Hey Frank,

The only free GUI AFAIK is WinBoard. Making sure that the commercial GUIs are
WinBoard compatible is the most important issue IMO. That means no crappy or
flawed adapters with the intended purpose of discouraging people from using (and
creating) WinBoard compatible engines.

IMO the commercial software providers can create all the native protocols they
wish. Of course it's an advantage with a free protocol like UCI, so that
programmers can construct an engine for a (IMO) great GUI. But the GUI isn't
free (it rhymes but it still costs dimes :-). If SMK released a freeware UCI GUI
then it would be something else entirely. Then it would be a free alternative to
WinBoard.

In general I believe that an engine should be compatible to as many different
GUIs as possible. Either through a common protocol or through releasing multiple
versions. This reduces the costs for the average consumer. I prefer the first
option, mainly because the choice is obvious at the moment. An obvious common
protocol should be WinBoard. The latter option can cause confusion, but it's an
option as well.

Regards,
Mogens



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