Author: Ed Schröder
Date: 22:08:03 11/16/01
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On November 16, 2001 at 14:14:29, Slater Wold wrote: >On November 16, 2001 at 13:56:14, Roy Eassa wrote: > >>Agreed: having the strongest chess program for the PC will lend MS significant >>prestige. >> >>Anybody think they have a chance at accomplishing this without buying out Tiger >>or another of the current top engines? > >This is *NOT* *NOT* *NOT* going to happen. > >If MS DOES decide it's going to release "..the world's strongest chess >program.." they *CANNOT * buy one! > >It's like IBM coming out and saying, "..we are going to beat Kasparov with this >chess program we just bought.." > >YOU CANNOT DO THAT! YOU HAVE TO CREATE IT YOURSELF! > >If there is even a SLIGHT chance someone will figure out this program is >actually someone elses, it will kill ALL the hype. That's not something MS is >going to risk. It all will depend of what MS wants, a few scenarios: #1. A default chess program inside a newer OS, patience alike. Any reasonable amateur program plus some reasonable graphics will do. #2. Create a competitive chess program and sell it separately. First thing they need is a top engine programmer but that is just the smallest problem. The main problem is making the interface, it has to be a gamer outlook with fancy graphics, sounds, an own server etc. It has to be at least competitive with ChessMaster in this area. Chances MS is going to do that all by themselves is exactly zero. Just ask John Merlino how many man-years work is invested in the current ChessMaster, my best guess: 40-50 man-years. #3. Create the strongest around. MS needs special hardware, an external piece of hardware connected to USB could do the trick. Hsu comes to mind. The interface hasn't to be as fancy as in option-2, nevertheless MS has to buy it. Looking at these 3 scenario's my best speculation is: Option-1 : 75% Option-2 : 5% Option-3 : 20% Ed
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