Author: Roberto Waldteufel
Date: 02:28:39 06/27/98
Go up one level in this thread
On June 26, 1998 at 21:40:50, Keith Ian Price wrote: >On June 26, 1998 at 05:54:34, Roberto Waldteufel wrote: > > >>Hi Bob, >> >>It's not that I don't want IBM to make any money. What I think is so sad is that >>in the light of achieving such a profound landmark in the history of Artificial >>Intelligence, they appear to have locked it away for good. I get the idea >>(correct me if I am mistaken) that the bean counters worst fear is that DB >>should be seen to lose, ruining all their good publicity, so rather they just >>don't let it play. Reminds me a little bit of the Fischer - Karpov World >>Championship match that never was. >>I think that in the light of such a great achievement, they should either >>develop it still further or else make the hardware available to someone else who >>will. I know that, for example, Richard Lang gives away very little about his >>methods, but at least he keeps on developing his ideas and his programs play >>chess instead of gathering dust. If IBM are really not going to use what they >>have created, at least let them release the hardware. Could they not make some >>money selling the chess processor as a product in its own right. They have the >>potential to bring about a quantum leap in the computer chess world and boost >>the esteem of their company and even recoup some of their development costs in >>the process. Even if they never programmed chess again, when the best competing >>programs play and the winner uses their chips, they still gain in prestige. >>Maybe they have miscounted a bean or two? >> >>Best wishes, >> >>Roberto > >Hello, Roberto, > >When I talked to Hsu about this at the end of April, he said that IBM had no >intention of selling the chess processors as a PC product, but that he was >negotiating with them for the rights to the chips (1997 version), so that he >could possibly market such a product. There's a lot of "ifs" there, though. I >asked him some hypotheticals, such as: If there were a market for 1 million of >these boards, at what price point do you think you could sell them? He answered >$200. With a market of 10,000 that would double to $400. I agree with you that >this would be a great thing to experiment with, and I believe even Vincent would >shell out $400 real quick to test it. Hsu also said that his short eval took >only one cycle, and his long eval took 8 cycles. Move generation took 4 cycles. >The long eval was necessary in only 20% of the cases. > >kp Hi Kieth Thanks for the info. Lets hope he goes ahead with the proposal. I think its a pity that IBM themselves seem to have ditched computer chess completely, but maybe it's better if the whole operation is taken over by someone like Hsu, whose committment to the project seems far greater than IBM's. Maybe if Hsu is successful the great IBM might even come to regret their decision to drop the project as soon as they had achieved their objective of beating Kasparov. I truly believe they are making a mistake, but I guess that's their business. I for one would consider $400 a small price to pay for one of these boards. If Hsu wants advance orders, he can have mine now! Best wishes, Roberto
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