Author: Moritz Berger
Date: 13:05:05 09/09/98
In my opinion, the recent announcement by Ed Schröder that Rebel 10 will not support the auto232 interface any longer (which is needed to play automated matches of different programs on 2 PCs and is also required for the external Chess232 chess board) is a natural starting point for a meaningful survey about the importance of this feature. I'm sure that if 90% of Ed's customers demand that he support it, he will simply have no choice but to comply with this request ;-) I think that the readers of CCC represent a minority in many ways because they might potentially more interested in testing computer programs than other customers. I do think that a poll on CCC would have some merit because of the following arguments: (i) CCC readers are potential key customers, i.e. they influence purchases of others with their recommendations, reviews (several journalists are on board here) and general impressions. This makes our community an opinion pool of "voters" that should not be ignored lightly. (ii) Automated games between 2 PCs can be used for several purposes besides getting playing strength estimates of the programs involved: I often set up engine matches (with different engines on 2 machines or using the engine facilities of Fritz) starting from certain positions to illustrate different aspects of handling a position by matching the respective strengths and weaknesses of different programs. Especially to test opening novelties this is a nice starting point if you consider the strength of the latest batch of programs on faster hardware. (iii) Past discussions of issues related with supporting the auto232 interface on CCC in connection with the lack of a public auto232 device for Fritz 5 might contribute to a general awareness among regular CCC readers about the importance of this topic, making the opinion of "educated" computer chess enthusiasts even more valuable when interpreting the results of such a poll. (iv) Calling on Ed to support the auto232 interface with Rebel 10 implies also exerting the same considerable public pressure on all other competitors to do the same with their products, ensuring at best an industry wide support of this protocol. (v) The discussion about Ed's decision will probably take place here anyway, but as usual we will hear comments only from a small part of the CCC membership. To me, it's very interesting to have a general poll about the significance of the debate at some point in time (maybe in a week or two, preferably before Rebel 10 is released to manufactoring) also on this board. Moritz
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