Author: Mig Greengard
Date: 17:54:49 09/09/05
Go up one level in this thread
(Not addressing this to anyone in particular.) Ah, the usual "ignore the
message, attack the messenger" routine. If you want to believe ChessBase pays
me, there is nothing I can do about it other than to point out again you are
wrong. But I also note that even if I were the bastard son of Friedel and
Wullenweber, pointing that out still wouldn't refute my arguments about how
investing time and money in comp-comp chess makes less commercial sense now than
it did in previous years.
What is most amusing about all these accusations is that they make no sense even
if they are all true. What exactly do you want, a long ChessBase confession that
Zappa and Fruit play as well as Fritz, followed by a declaration of bankruptcy,
wearing of sackcloth and ashes and weeping in the streets of Hamburg? Again,
what do you want? You are the people with the programs saying Fruit is as strong
as Shredder (or isn't, etc.). So? And? Was it the end of the world for ChessBase
when Shredder became a top engine? Or when Junior did? (Tiger, etc.) Have there
been top engines in the past that didn't join up with ChessBase? Of course.
If you have the fastest car you tout speed. If somebody else has the fastest car
you tout comfort. If someone else has the most comfortable car you tout price.
If everyone has a playing engine that is incredibly strong and more than meets
the needs of your target market, engine strength becomes a neglible marketing
point. This is simple business, not the apocalypse. Sure, it seems a little
chicken to declare the race over when you're no longer ahead, but that doesn't
change the fact that the engines are stronger than they will ever need to be for
a commercial program and that it makes perfect sense to stop worrying about how
to beat Shredder when 99% of your customers don't care.
You keep looking for denials or admissions ("Aha! Look, he's defending them!"
From what?) when all we have are observable facts. You can, and have, and will,
continue to make up whatever goofball reasons you like to explain these facts,
just as I have. But at least be useful about it. ChessBase said in advance that
it wouldn't be covering this event and didn't from the start. And is it anything
more than blatant common sense to say anyone who wins a world championship makes
a big deal out of it and anyone who doesn't win plays it down? Fritz hasn't won
one of those events in quite a while and still outsells Shredder and Junior even
in the identical interface. It's about brand and the fact that all of these
engines, including probably all of those that played in the WCCC in Reykjavik,
are more than strong enough for any consumer. This is all missing the point of
whether or not comp-comp chess has passed from being useful from a marketing and
consumer standpoint for a commercial enterprise like ChessBase. If not entirely
useless, at least beyond the point of worthwhile return on investment.
For me the criticism begins and ends with the fact that ChessBase.com didn't
cover the result. They've covered smaller things, especially computer chess
stuff, and not doing so this time is a blotch on the record of the #1 chess news
site. Can we be 100% sure they would have covered it had Shredder or Junior won?
No, but I'd put it at 99%!
By the way, I don't run my blog to satisfy any particular interests other than
my own. (Nor do I answer all my email.) It's not a general news site. First I
didn't write about it, now I didn't write about it promptly enough to suit you?
Yikes. Btw, my last ChessCafe article, the one up now that went up three weeks
ago, also mentions the event, and how to get Zappa and Fruit.
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