Author: Arturo Ochoa
Date: 19:07:38 06/16/00
Go up one level in this thread
On June 16, 2000 at 16:42:44, Christopher R. Dorr wrote: Hello, Chris. >I do understand your frustration, but I think it's important to remember that >CM7000 is a mass-market program; 99.99% of their customers don't care about the >hash table issue. On a modern machine, this is perhaps the difference between a >USCF 2550 level and a USCF 2535 level. For the vast majority of users, it makes >no difference. At blitz time controls, which is what the vast majority plays >most of their games at, this would make even less difference. > I regret it, but I think you haven't understood me. And it isn't any frustration, it is only I don't agree with this attitude about a product that I always considered very professional from the beginners until the most expert levels. Neither, I am in this vast majority, since my orientation isn't the Chess Computer Matches. I use mainly chess programs for training me. When I carry out tests, they aren't to get statistical results purely. These kind of results don't indicate me anything of the quality level of a chess program. When I carry out tests on some program, they are guided rather to its style and chess level. It has much value for me, because in this process I am increasing my game level. So, accepting it or not, the Hash Tables increases the chess programs game level notably. The technical reasons have already been widely explained by the experts in chess programs. I won't detail these reasons again. >To fix this would probably require several dozen hours of coding, testing, and >distributing. Let's say 50 hours of developer/tester time. At $40 an hour, this >is $2000 to fix a bug that makes virtually no difference in strength, and affets I also understand the problem of the cost, because, besides working for a company in which I must budget continually the outsourcing services, I belong to the technological area where the products are extremely revised, proven, tested and corrected under the potential users' guides before launching. The objective is to launch products with the minimum quantity of defects and, in in this case of the chess programs, with the minimum of bugs. More than spending a lot of money in correcting such defects, you should foresee the execution of a software quality control intensive Phase with the potential user's guide of the all niches of your market. If I refer to the software metrics quality, it is I have worked in this area for several years. So, I don't consider myself unaware to this area. Working an area, whose service should be on-line 24 hours x 7 days, the 365 days of the year, you can infer my job is concerning to an Extranet of diverse Services. The new Services are proven thoroughly so much by the established clients as the potentials ones. >a *very* few customers. Additionally, it pulls a developer away from his/her >work on the next version. I wouldn't fix it either. > >The 'professional' programs sell 90% of their programs to afficionados who *do* >care about such things. Thus they are much more likely to fix these problems, as >they directly impact their bottom line. I think the response of the CM7000 team >is both reasonable and to be expected. I think it is so important the work of all the afficionados, as much for this kind of reports as for some question that they can have. I'm clear I'm not in the range of the GMasters, but I am above of the National Master's level. I don't know what is the range you use to consider a chess player like a "afficionado". For example, many Gmasters could be considers great afficionados. If the interest was to launch a ChessMaster release, I think it was better to wait for the ChessMaster 8000 launching. Most of people are using the ChessMaster 6000, so which was the real problem of launching a version with all the improvements expected by the public? I think your position is not reasonable and prospective. It is only my opinion. It is on your behalf, to consider if my arguments are so disheveled for you to be considered minimumly logical. > >Chris
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