Author: Wayde Beasley
Date: 16:24:31 12/30/00
I just purchased Fritz6 and await its arrival anxiously. Then, I started wondering about how I, as a non-programmer, could go about getting a freeware chess programmer to implement my suggestions - or anybody's suggestions for that matter. Take Tim Mann's Winboard/Xboard - there are a gazillion things I'd love to see implemented in that program, but I think he's overworked as it is. I started wondering how I could go about finding a programmer to add this or that little feature to the program - where could I find him - could I find someone that would add a feature for payment in US dollars - how much, etc. And, of course, I'd like to see the contributions put back into the open source community. Concrete example: multiple boards in Winboard. An extra board could show variations or play out a PV. That's one little feature - how much do you that feature is worth. Is there a programmer out there who would add that feature for $500? $100? $50? Or what about a complete do-over in the gnome or KDE environment to harness the advantages of those environments? Then maybe somebody else would want another feature and would be willing to pay the same programmer another sum of money - or perhaps another programmer, if it's all open source. Maybe I'm stupid. Maybe I'll be more than happy with Fritz 6.0. But, so what if I'm stupid! I can waste my money on tit bars or open source upgrades, what the hell difference does it make?! I really would like to know how to go about paying a programmer to add features to open source chess programs, or at least see if it's doable. I checked out www.collab.net but that seems overwrought. I also have no earthly idea about what the market will draw; $1,000,000 will get me a lot, I bet - but are there programmers that would code a total of 24 hours for say $100? or $200 - hell if I know. In the open source world, money is a more ethereal concept, but surely it could serve as some inspiration or motivation. Anybody have any suggestions? I'll swear off tit bars to contribute hard-earned cash to the further development of selected open source chess projects, if there is a reasonable means and method of achieving a result that I appreciate. The code should be placed on something like sourceforge.net
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