Author: Peter Berger
Date: 16:44:04 03/20/01
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On March 20, 2001 at 18:31:43, John Merlino wrote: a patch... > >This is an industry-wide problem; I would say that, roughly, 99% of all products >that get released get patched (this would also include entirely new "versions" >that also include bug-fixes from previous versions). The 1% (and, perhaps, less >than that) is for the programs that are either miraculously bug-free (because it >WOULD be miraculous) or because the program sold so poorly (or was so poorly >received) that the company isn't even going to spend money putting together a >patch. > >jm How come ? Let's limit to chessprograms . There used to be a lot of programs around nearly free of bugs . To name more recent ones : Shredder 4 , Genius 5 and Junior 5 . At least for the first two ones I am sure they didn't sell too bad at all . There are others who have some minor bugs . But when we talk about Chessmaster this is for sure the buggiest of them all . They seem to have a professional testing team ; a lot of problems are reported , and then there usually is a patch . But do things get better with the patched version ? Nope . The newest patch ( this time for CM8000 ) not only didn't fix some of the most obvious problems ( like CM crashing when trying to save a game or when you choose browse while installing a XBoard engine ) , it even did major havoc to my computer so that it won't shutdown without errors anymore and it partly broke my internet access by changing a few system files . I am definitely prepared to things like that with CM and its patches by now so I take care of backups , but : hey , what do all these testers do ? Besides : do all of them reside in the US so that you can't avoid the most simple problems involved with regional settings ? The King engines are _very_ strong , the features of CM are the best of them all IMHO , but the quality/reliability of the product is simply crap ( sorry , but I can't find a way to say it in a friendlier way ) . I recently worked on a little manual for installing a WinBoard engine under CM ; there are at least 2 major bugs that have to be adressed in a manual to give people a fair chance ; when everything is setup it is definitely one of the best implementations of the WinBoard protocol IMHO , but the bugs are SOOO obvious that it is unbelievable they haven't been adressed or fixed in the patch . In fact I really don't understand this at all ; the company selling CM even hires an account manager ( that you ) who deals with customers in a most professional and friendly way IMHO ; so part of the support structure is outstanding . But : how about the quality of the product ? I have definitely been a Chessmaster fan since CM6000 but the answers to these questions puzzle me . pete
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