Author: Robert Henry Durrett
Date: 19:04:28 09/05/98
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On September 05, 1998 at 21:27:22, Fernando Villegas wrote: >I wonder what conclusion can be drawn from the fact that only 14% of people >that answered the question would purchase Crafty, if commercially available in >CD with the complete Book stuff, etc. <snip> >Fernando (1) If I ever get any real money to spend I will purchase all of the top chess-playing programs. But I will purchase them in order of playing strength. (2) There is a distinction between (naked) chess engines and chess-playing programs, with the latter incorporating a GUI. You can already get the Crafty engine with ChessBase 7, I understand. Free. [plus the more usual way to get Crafty, of course.] (3) It would be really convenient for people who are NOT computer-savvy to have a complete Crafty "chess-playing program," comparable in GUI features to Fritz 5, on disk. Unfortunately, the poll was only among CCC members, many of whom are "computer-savvy." Downloading software and "messing with it" is not the favorite thing for most non-CCC members, I suspect. The size of the market cannot be estimated only by polling CCC members, since they do not comprise a "representative sample" taken from the entire "population" of people who play with chess-playing programs on their computers or purchase them. (4) In any case, the price has got to be competitive! Only the top program [Fritz 5] can command "top dollar." $100 is too much for anything but one of the very highest-rated programs. [Incidentally, the "ratings" the general public will pay attention to, unfortunately, will probably be the highly-publicized engine vs engine results.] The general public will shy away from a high price tag because they will not know what they would be getting for their money. "Chess is chess, and any chess-playing program will do" may reflect the sentiment of the general public. They will shop for the "best price" and probably purchase junk without knowing the difference. Sell it for $20 and they will "sell like hot cakes." (5) It would be nice if UAB would give Bob the "go-ahead" to market Crafty.
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