Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 23:20:35 11/29/98
Go up one level in this thread
On November 29, 1998 at 18:37:36, Roberto Waldteufel wrote:
>
>On November 29, 1998 at 10:27:58, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On November 29, 1998 at 06:07:07, odell hall wrote:
>>
>>>Hi CCC
>>>
>>>
>>> I am just curious why is it that I never see any post by Richard Lang on these
>>>boards, or for that matter Mark Uniacke? I have been wondering about this for
>>>quite some time. Is it possible they were kicked out? I am sure I am leaving out
>>>many others. I would assume that all programmers would flock to such a computer
>>>chess forum!
>>
>>
>>The problem is this:
>>
>>Commercial programmers don't want to reveal what they consider "secrets"
>>because they want to maintain a competitive advantage over their primary
>>competition for sales, which is the *other* commercial programs. As a
>>result, you won't see much technical discussion from them. A couple do
>>post here, primarily to answer questions about their programs from a customer
>>support perspective, or to discuss games they have played, but again *not*
>>to supply technical details on the internals.
>>
>>As a result, there's really little incentive for one to come here, because
>>they get dragged into technical support questions and won't get much info from
>>their competitors anyway.
>
>Hi Bob,
>
>I think you are spot-on here. It is a great pity that commercial programmers
>have a dis-incentive to talk openly about what they do, and I wonder how many
>man-years of progress have been lost through "re-invention of the wheel" as a
>result. I am sure progress was better back in the days when it was not possible
>to make a commercially viable product (fast hardware too expensive).
I agree with you. Some time ago I launched the idea of a tournament played on
386 computers, and got zero answers.
Too bad. I think creativity is boosted when hardware is poor. Currently programs
are so strong that it is difficult to evaluate the differences between them.
Even a poor program has a chance to play a decent game on fast hardware. This is
different at fast time controls, or on slow hardware.
> Commercial
>competition can have very beneficial results in many walks of life, but in the
>case of research and development (of software or anything else), it stifles
>communication and impedes progress. A sad fact.
That's why Ed and I have decided to unify our efforts, and why we have great
expectations about the "Rebel Tiger" project.
Christophe
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