Author: Lawrence S. Tamarkin
Date: 22:43:21 08/14/99
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I really hate to come out of 'retirment' - but seeing these post, I just have to give voice to my opinion on this subject; When the Web Computer Chess Reports was on paper, I enjoyed subscribing to it, and later even felt a little 'thrill' when writing for it once it appeared on the Web. After all there was no where else where one could find thoughtfull reviews (at least I immagined that they were thoughtfull:)) of the latest chess playing programs and databases. In occassionally writing something about the programs, databases, opening books or fonts I experienced the pleasure of knowing that my opinions and thoughts on this stuff would be read by other's, and hopefully valued by others, the same way that I valued reading Komputer Korner, Fernando, and other authors. But it makes no sence to spend money buying a program and then wrestling with words trying to describe your joys & dissapointments about the program at hand, and/or the company that produced it. And of course one can and should spend their time on more productive endeavours (especially when rent is due), then putting together something about how good or bad some chess program is. When the CCC came into being it made the necessity of WCCR even more unecessary: Now instead of having 3,4 or 5 regular guys telling us how bad or good some program is/was, we have the whole computer chess using fraternity instantly reviewing, arguing and philosophising about the programs in real time, and in a real hurry. WCCR was great, but because of technological progress no longer needed. (Allthough, I would really hate to see the Archives of past articles dissapear!). That is unless of course you had someone like Fernando or KK shifting through the thousands of post here, organizing the material & producing considered articals on everything that appears here in the course of time. Of course the 'Pay' for such an endeavour should come from the 'fantastic' increased sales that ICD achieves. Of course this is a fantasy, so I would suggest another fantasy, that of the incredibly rich chess enthusiest, who simply decides to pay these qualified writer's for their time, with his or her own money. And if I win big in some lottery, I would be the 1st to be such. Hope no one minds too much that I posted this... Larry On August 14, 1999 at 11:27:22, Steven Schwartz wrote: >On August 13, 1999 at 17:02:20, Richard Sutherland wrote: > >>I notice that nothing has been posted to the Computer Chess Reports section in >>months. Is this resource now dead? or just resting?. > >When the Reports was by-subscription for 13 years (first on paper >and then on the web), it paid its own way. The money that was generated >paid for Enrique Irazoqui & Larry Kaufman to spend a good deal >of time testing product, writing reviews, and collecting data >from other reliable sources. > >Unfortunately, we heard many people saying that charging for such >information on the web went against the grain, and that "everything" >on the web should be for free. Unfortunately, this meant that the funds >that we collected to pay for the expense of testing dried up and >the Reports could not continue as it once did. > >It was thought that the creation of the CCC would again resurrect >the Reports because we felt that making a home for the CCC and its >members would result in articles being written by the members. But >as Fernando will attest, that was not the case. Despite many pleas >by Fernando, we received almost nothing in the way of computer chess >articles. > >So, for all intents and purposes, the Reports IS dead - a victim of >the web philosophy that everything should be free. From our perspective >at ICD/Your Move, we substituted the time, energy, and expense of >creating and maintaining the Reports to creating and maintaining the >CCC. It would be impractical and incredibly time-consuming and expensive >to maintain both entities. > >For me, personally, it is sad because (despite the hard work involved) >I really enjoyed working with Enrique and Larry: two of my favorite >people in the computer chess world. >- Steve (ICD/Your Move)
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