Author: Marc Lacrosse
Date: 15:10:03 09/09/05
Go up one level in this thread
On September 09, 2005 at 17:37:19, Mig Greengard wrote: (...) > What would they have gained had Fritz 9 >entered and won with a Fischerian score of 11/11? They would put a nice story >bragging about it up on their site, put "2005 world champion!" on the box, and >sold three more copies than they otherwise would have. Untill 10 months ago this was the main point of their advertising strategy. They had massive coverage of the former championship. If this is no more important, why don't they explain this on their news page ? All these arguments could well be presented there with their present opinion. >ChessBase brought them in because having the top engines was important. But >when there are five or ten that all play at a similar level, it is pointless to > keep running such races. It requires massive amounts of work to stay near the > top and you get very little in return The return could well be there if you are still clear first. But Chessbase products are no more able to do so. >ChessBase (for which I do not speak) Sure. Who does pay you then ? > is obviously interested in maintaining >engine excellence. This is not true. Or if it is true than we must admit that they are no more able to do so. > There is a nice supply of new engines that they can >cherry-pick when they like. Not so clear. Their aventure with shredder is evidently no more honeymoon. They do not do anymore advertising for Hiarcs ... > This is good for everyone. Sure. But not from CB point-of-view ... > They may well be >interested in a deal with Zappa or Fruit. Is having seven programs better than >five? What about 10? It is _much_ interesting that both strongest ones are no more CB's ones >It's a marketing decision. :-) >Do you dump a known brand like >Junior because it finished fifth this year? Do you go running after every new >hot program without knowing if the programmer can deliver on time and continue >the project? >Crafty has been plenty strong enough for years to substitute for Fritz or >Shredder for anyone who's not an international master. Last I checked it was >still free, even distributed by ChessBase, and it hasn't put the guys in >Hamburg out of business. 50 or 100 Elo points is not the relevant difference >now that all the programs are over 2500. Please have a look at CB's comments on former WCCC to see if this had no signification less than one year ago. >In my other Daily Dirt comments I compared all >this "ass kicking" hot air to people who want to buy a car because it has a >higher top speed than another. You think 2780 is so much better than 2765 that >you fail to realize this puts you in the sub-1% of the market for ChessBase >products. Do you think the hordes of people who buy ChessMaster are worried >about where it is on some obscure rating list >If ChessBase can have it both ways, I'm sure they gladly will. But they cannot. So it's easy to speak about features, GUI, human touch and so on. It 's only a public revelation : they are not able to compete anymore. (...) >with the engine field so glutted and balanced, (and with Hydra on the scene)... There are a few strong contenders who do not think that hydra is not unbeatable. Marc
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.