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Subject: Re: Something More About Chess Challenger 7

Author: Steven Schwartz

Date: 18:45:02 04/14/98

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On April 14, 1998 at 21:11:27, Fernando Villegas wrote:

>On April 13, 1998 at 22:45:20, Steven Schwartz wrote:
>
>>On April 13, 1998 at 22:09:35, Fernando Villegas wrote:
>>
>>>hi Karsten:
>>>I remember that a "tournament" was organized in USA by the magazine
>>>Popular mechanics between Boris and Chess Challenger 10, won by this
>>>last one. I believe it were not more than two or three games. I can
>>>still remember the photo or the article where a chess master opposed
>>>both machines each other as he would do the arbiter of a box fight.
>>>Some remembrance deserves, also, the first voice chess challenger 10, a
>>>black machine that played the best chess ever created by Ron Nelson.
>>>Talking of all machines, do you have or remember micro-chess by Novag?
>>>It seem it was the cheapest and worst program created by Kittinger.
>>>fernando
>>
>>I recall beginning in business right around the time of the Voice Chess
>>Challenger (1978-1979). Our first shipment was  delayed from Fidelity
>>three months after promised and arrived ONE WEEK before Christmas. We
>>rushed all the machines to our customers only to find that about 80%
>>of them were defective in one way or another (cosmetically and/or
>>electrically). What a great introduction to the world of computer
>>chess!!! It was the first of many, many reliability disasters in
>>the stand-alone computer chess field. I am sure that many readers
>>here have their own horror stories about reliability problems with
>>computer chess machines.
>>- Steve
>
>
>Hi Steve:
>I have been lucky all the time. No problems with CC7, no problems with
>sensoory 8, no with champion challenger, my first love, no one with
>micro-chess, no one with par Excellence -my second great love and still
>I love her-, no one with Constellation 3,6, non with MMIV and no one
>with the one I bought from ICD, my third love, Travel by Saitek, first
>version. So I deserve a kind of condecoration.
>Or maybe these machines were better examined if they were to be shipped
>outside the states or europe or whatever the place where they were
>produced.
>Else: my feeling is that nobody produces any more expensive, high
>voltage stand alone units anymore. Now they Seem to be toys, aren't
>they?
>fernando

Ah, there's the problem! You never had an Elegance, a Robot Adversary,
a Travel Master, a Savant, a Voice Sensory Challenger (and others
which I cannot think of right now). We learned early
on that all chess computers had to be tested prior to shipping.
Sometimes
we would reject two computers for every one shipped. ARRRGGGHHH!

In my opinion, lack of reliability was the MOST important factor
in the dropping of chess computers from department store stockrooms.
Customers would bring them back in droves.

If only we had not had to spend all the money on supporting defective
chess computers, I might be be retired right now in sunny Chile.
- Steve



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