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Subject: Re: About the Results of Poll 16

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 21:14:54 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. Too pricy at 100 theoretical bucks? The
>percentage would have been better if Steven asked the same question but with a
>50 dollars mark? Refusal to pay for something that has been given since ever?
>Not enough valued as a program to be worthy of some expenses? A signal -I don't
>believe it- of saturation of the market? The feeling that "I already have Crafty
>and the new commercial version would be almost the same thing"?
>I wonder all this as much if we could answer it we could, at the same time,
>begin to discover the hidden and misterious secrets of the chess professiional
>market. What make a guy with already 30 programs to steal some dollars from his
>maybe narrow budget and ask for a new one? Which are the factors that makes of a
>program almost an irresistible temptation and that make of another, maybe
>better, a total failure? And finally, whatever the reasons, are the same we
>consciously would answer if asked about it in a poll?
>Yes: this is one of the most weird markets I have never known.
>Fernando


IMHO, it's a pointless question.  How many have played crafty?  interesting,
but only in the framework of how many have played Rebel, or genius, or whatever.
Otherwise, the number doesn't mean a thing.  How many would buy it?  Again
pointless, since it won't ever be for sale.  However, maybe it is not
particularly worth much to most, which is the way I would interpret the
responses...

I didn't pick the questions, and wouldn't have picked the ones asked given the
chance myself...  I think it would be much more interesting to list all the
commercially available programs along with all the freely available programs
and see who has played against which...




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