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Subject: Re: Equal platform competition

Author: Mike Byrne

Date: 08:48:29 04/23/05

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On April 23, 2005 at 11:40:11, Steven Edwards wrote:

>On April 22, 2005 at 21:27:22, Tony Petters wrote:
>
>>I hope they force every program to use one CPU with an equal amount of RAM,
>>otherwise, the games are not even !
>
>Those with long memories will recall an effort from the late 1970s promoting the
>idea of equal platform competition as reported in the ICCA Newsletter (the
>grandfather of the ICGA Journal).  Tony Marsland was a main proponent; there
>were plenty of critics.
>
>With the need to enforce identical operating systems, compilers, CPU, RAM, etc.
>among all potential participants is impractical.  For one, I refuse to develop,
>test, or run my program using any Microsoft products; others may feel the same
>way towards Apple, GNU, Linux, Intel, AMD, Motorola, or whatever.
>
>But here's a half serious proposal that could work:
>
>Allow each participant a fixed limit on the amount of energy used per game.
>This can be done by attaching an integrating wattmeter between the entrant's
>power supply and the rest of its system.  A limit of one megajoule would be
>sufficient to run a modest system for an hour or two.  Quad CPU competitors
>might have to go into power save mode instead of pondering.  Huge rackmount
>systems would have to be very good at blitz.

Excellent -- recognizes that equal platfroms are not possible -- but does
propose a solution that levels the playing field and also encourages innovation
in extracting the most out of the world's limited resournces.  A very green and
earth friendly suggestion.



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