Author: Uri Blass
Date: 09:30:51 09/05/00
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On September 05, 2000 at 12:04:50, Enrique Irazoqui wrote: >One day someone may write a book about the sociology of computer chess. Well, >maybe the topic is not interesting enough for a book, but at least an article >could be fascinating. A few paragraphs should relate to beta-testing and the >relationship between CC freaks and programmers. Fernando: are you interested? > >Months ago, Uri posted that he expected to be paid for his collaboration with >the development of chess programs. It made me smile, because beta-testing is >supposed to be a privilege for the tester, although I never quite understood why >it works this way. But it does. From one day to the next, a freak may be >promoted to the "in" circle, improve his status to the imaginary rank of expert >and get the ensuing ego-booster, but he has to pay a price. I have seen private >emails from beta-testers published without permission when it was commercially >convenient; beta-testers demoted as no-team members; beta-testers forced to >write commercially useful stuff for the honor of spending X (when X tends to >very many) hours hunting for bugs and checking the engine. Etc. It would seem a >matter of common sense to assume, as Uri did, that collaborating in the >improvement of a commercial product is a paid job, but in computer chess it is >the other way round, even if the tester doesn't pay with money but in species. I want to say that I know that programmers do not earn much from their program so I do not think that beta testers should earn a lot of money from their job but I think that it is fair to get something from it(even if it is only 0.1$ per hour of testing). A programmer can decide to give all the beta testers together 20% of the money that the programmer earns from his(her) program in the next year (the programmer can decide to give part of them more money if they are more important and give more productive information). It may be a good deal for the programmer because the programmer can get better beta testers or even the same beta testers who work only for his(her) program and not for other programs and if these better beta testers are the difference between being number 1 in the ssdf and being number 2 both sides can earn money from this deal. Uri
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