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Subject: Re: Arms race and all

Author: Chris Whittington

Date: 07:51:28 10/23/97

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On October 23, 1997 at 08:58:33, Michel van der List wrote:

>Seems to me the that the arms race issue has been beaten to death.
>
>From an outsider's view; here's is the way I see it.
>
>- Chris W. would like to see all machines in the same class, his quote:
>  "I can live with a tournament where 'effective' speeds vary by 20,
>  30 % or so."

Hello Bob. Found the figures now ? :)


>- Bob H. and Bruce M. merely claim that they are playing by the rules
>  and are just bringing a micro-processor of their own choice.
>
>I can see where Chris' frustration comes from and I can also see that
>to Bob and Bruce this does not seem like a big deal.
>
>From my standpoint of view I like Chris' point, but that does not appear
>to be the way the rules are now. Also, I do not believe that a 500Mhz
>alpha is:
> a) A class above the rest (according to figures posted here by
>    Bruce and Bob, disputed by noone, about 50% faster then a K6/233).

How can we dispute the figures, we don't have the machines. I saw
figures last week alleging that Bob was 2.5 or 3.5 times faster and
Bruce some lesser but significant figure.

> b) A mini computer (the foot print of the 500mhz alpha on my desk
>    -- a year old BTW -- is the same as the footprint of the pII/300
>    on the other side of my desk.

As would be one footprint of any large rogue elephant you care to put in
your office. Size doesn't matter any more ...... :)

>
>Now that Chris is bringing a pII/300, seems to me that he is within
>20-30% of what Bob/Bruce are bringing (can't see that 766Mhz thing
>happening...), although through a round-about way.

No, if Thorsten gets the p2 300 (which is not sure). It has to be built
and paid for, this process can still go wrong before Friday.

Anyway, apparently I'm going to be 20% or so above the K6 233's. Bob and
Bruce have some further unknown but significant factor on top of this;
and the critical issue is their advantage over the K6 233's; not some
stepped advantage system relating to all the intermediate variations
there might be.

Remember, their main gripe was always referring to fritz on a P2 300.
THEY COULD HAVE JUST GONE TO THIS LEVEL INSTEAD OF WAY BEYOND IT.

>
>How about burying the hatchet on this one

You msut be joking.

Where should this burial take place ? May I suggest two hatchets, one in
Bob's alpha and the other in Bruce's :)

> and just try to get the
>rules changed to something that every one can live with? (That would
>include changing the ludicrous amateur/professional distinction).

Agreed entirely.

As Bruce says, essentially its a huge mess. Who gets charged what is
allegedly 'wrapped up' in some sort of rule system, but, in effect, the
charging is entirely politically based. It was considered who money
could be extracted from, and then rules made up to cover it. They made
very sure this year with their rule change that there was no way out for
me, published chess program or no published chess program.

Chris

>
>It also seems to me that most computers that are going to be there
>will be within my definition of Micro, which would something like
>'anything you can buy for the price of a current top-of-the-line
>mainstream desktop system' (and I understand that is pretty vague).
>
>Michel



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