Author: James T. Walker
Date: 12:25:44 08/23/99
Go up one level in this thread
On August 22, 1999 at 11:24:03, pete wrote: >On August 21, 1999 at 20:33:09, James T. Walker wrote: > >>On August 21, 1999 at 20:17:58, James T. Walker wrote: >> >>>On August 21, 1999 at 20:03:10, pete wrote: >>> >>>>On August 20, 1999 at 12:23:05, KarinsDad wrote: >>>> >>>>>On August 19, 1999 at 17:43:36, Thorsten Czub wrote: >>>>> >>>>>[snip] >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>We have worked much on making CSTal think in the right situations. >>>>>>It would be a very easy thing to let CSTal interrupt search >>>>>>10 seconds or 1 minute before time runs out. >>>>>>Chris is too lazy and has no interest in programming >>>>>>stuff like this. he is interested in making the engine stronger. >>>>>>he has shown many times in the past that he is not interested in >>>>>>doing stuff he has no heart-beat for. >>>>>>even if it weakens the program. >>>>>> >>>>>>maybe it is very difficult for other people to understand. >>>>>>because they live a life to OPTIMIZE on quantifying things. >>>>>>But chris does not NEED to bugfix those things. >>>>> >>>>>This type of business immorality is the type of thing that makes customer's >>>>>blood boil. I recently purchased software which failed on my system due to my >>>>>system just barely making the minimum requirements (CPU-wise). I sent an Email >>>>>to the support group at the company and got back a message that due to the large >>>>>number of Emails, it would take 5 to 6 days to get back to me. 12 days later, I >>>>>sent them another Email. A month later, I have still not heard back from them. I >>>>>guess they figure that if they ignore the few customers who have problems with >>>>>their software long enough, those few customers and their problems will >>>>>eventually go away. >>>>> >>>>>CSTal is not free. If it has a bug, it SHOULD be fixed. Chris has no problem >>>>>taking the money from his customers, therefore, he should have no problem fixing >>>>>ALL of the bugs. Defending his actions shows that you are a true friend, but it >>>>>also shows a lack of concern on what is really important. As a true friend, you >>>>>should also be concerned about Chris' reputation in our small community, even >>>>>though Chris may not be concerned about it. >>>>> >>>>>Evidently, Chris has the freedom to ignore these types of things. But, that will >>>>>not endear people to him or CSTal. I made a decision some time back to NOT >>>>>purchase CSTal mainly on Chris' reputation. My choice. As it turns out, maybe >>>>>that was not such a bad decision after all. >>>>> >>>>>KarinsDad :| >>>>> >>>>> He concentrates >>>>>>and has the freedom to concentrate on doing whatever he wants. IMO >>>>>>a very privileged situation. he does not need to fix it, because he >>>>>>earns his money with other things. Amateurs have IMO the same priviliged >>>>>>situation. they don't need to do things they don't like. >>>>>>Ed or Marty or Matthias Wüllenweber e.g. have more pressure on their shoulders. >>>>>>They are forced to do certain things. If they don't do it, whole >>>>>>bunch of customers complain over the whole internet. >>>> >>>> >>>>As I agree that you have the freedom to buy or not buy everything you like for >>>>sure I don't agree with the thoughts about Tal. >>>> >>>>Some people don't seem to realize that Chris Whittington and Thorsten Czub are >>>>two different people and I don't think Chris ever would have said that losing on >>>>time is a cool feature :=) >>>> >>>>I was an early buyer of CSTal2 ; I didn't understand a few things and there were >>>>a few bugs still ; _everything_ was fixed , _everything_ was explained . The >>>>support was simply great , fast and friendly . >>>> >>>>pete >> >>Hello Pete, >>I'm sorry but I can not agree with you. I told Chris about the losing on time >>problem the first week I owned the program. It still is NOT fixed. I have sent >>several emails concerning the fact that certain EGTB's will not work with >>CSTal-2(KPPKP,KQPKP). The program crashes about every tenth game when running >>it on ICC as the relayer. He was told about that and his answer was to the >>effect that that was "pretty good". In spite of the problems CSTal-2 has I >>still like it. I am however disappointed in the attitude that the problems I >>mention are not important enough to fix. There is a problem in trying to run >>auto232 games vs a Fritz GUI program. CSTal-2 will not properly work as the >>"Master" in this setup. Part of the problem may lie with Chessbase and the way >>they implement the auto232. So everything is not fixed. I use CSTal-2 everyday >>on ICC/FICS and every day I lose games due to crashes. I wish this were not the >>case but it is. If you are not using the auto232 function you may very well be >>completely satisfied. As I said, in spite of it's problems I still like the >>program. >>Jim Walker > >Hi Jim , > >I thought about some time if I should answer per email . > >But as this seems to be a public issue : I can only talk about _my_ experiences >. I don't care for some features a prog doesn't have ( database support , etc ) >. But if a feature is promised it really should be there . > >That is the reason I will never buy a genius again , and it might take a very >long time until I think about purchasing another nimzo. > >Tal did have problems with autoplayer ; it is said everything is fixed with 2.03 >, I haven't tried it : if you are right , you are right to be annoyed. With egtb >; I use the 5-man ones with the Hiarcs CD as I have limited disk space, if >others don't work I agree this should be fixed. > > >I looked for a proper explanation of inner eye as it wasn't in the manual ; a >week later it was on the webpage ; I hated all the kibitzing when I wanted to >play with my human account ; 2.03 fixed that ; I asked some questions about >setting up Tal automated at ICC ; answered in about 2 hours ..., so why should I >complain ?? The loosing on time to my experience seems to happen only at very >long time controls when Tal is stuck in high-ply-search at the last move before >time control or at extremely fast time controls like 1/0 so it never was a >problem for me; and the way I used it the program _never_ crashed although I use >it under NT which is not even said to be supported ; maybe this only happens >under autoplayer . > >Suggestion : mess cstalx on ICC ; that was the way I used . I think problems >with using Fritz interfaced with Tal might get lesser support as I as programmer >would also have lesser interest to fix that ; who knows what causes the problems >; maybe it is Fritz itself ? > >greetings. > >pete Hello Pete, Problem is, I have messaged CSTalx on ICC. I have sent email to Oxford Softworks. This goes back to a couple of months ago. I have done all I can do. I have basically accepted the fact that they don't care about my small problems. It just came up in a post here and has become an issue again. Jim Walker
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