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Subject: Re: Commercial Programs & Linux ??

Author: Steve Coladonato

Date: 12:04:03 02/16/01

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On February 16, 2001 at 12:10:03, James Swafford wrote:

>On February 16, 2001 at 08:08:38, Steve Coladonato wrote:
>
>>Does anyone have a feel for when, or if, any of the commercial programs will be
>>ported to Linux?  I use Chess Assistant mostly and it would be fantastic if it
>>was ported.  Right now, xboard and its associated engines, are pretty much it.
>>Although, I must say that Shane Hudson's SCID is pretty slick and that runs
>>under Linux.
>>
>>I know that ChessMaster probably would be a tough port because of ActiveX, but I
>>would think that possibly Shredder and Fritz would be "fairly easy" :) to port.
>>
>>Steve
>
>I doubt you will see commercial products ported to or developed under
>Linux any time soon. :-/  The computer chess market is small enough -
>how big is the "computer chess for linux" market?  Then factor in this:
>most Linux / Unix users don't pay for software.  Nearly everything
>is under the domain of OSS and free.
>
>I'll have to check out SCID.
>
>--
>James

Well, if you're referring to utility type software for Linux / Unix I would
probably agree with you.  But I recently plunked down a few bucks for some game
software from Loki for Linux and am currently evaluating the Opera browser which
isn't free.  I also run Oracle on Linux and that's not free either.  As for
developing under Linux, Dr. Hyatt, I believe, does most if not all of his
development work under Linux albeit it Crafty is not commercial.  But then
again, Oracle does it's develoment work under Unix and then ports to NT.  I do
agree that the market, no matter what it is, is pretty small for Linux.  But I
can see it increasing.  Look at Star Office.  Totally compatible with MS Office
but free.

Anyway, Shane's SCID software is just the tip of the iceberg, although his is
free too.  But it does show that the free OS is a viable alternative.

Shane's site is http://members.xoom.com/sghudson

I think you'll be pleasantly suprised.

Steve



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