Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 09:32:21 10/04/98
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On October 04, 1998 at 11:48:30, syed wrote: >Why are some commercial quality programs like Crafty downloadable for free when >the author could make some good money selling it for $40-$50? Chessmaster has >crossed 4 million copies in sales, which at $50 a copy is $20mil. in sales!! >Seems like there are some good financial opporunities for chess programmers. > >Also, why is the source code for crafty downloadable for free too? Doesn't this >give the opportunity to someone to modify the code a wee bit then market the >software as his own? > >syed This ought to be a FAQ question, probably. :) Here's my reasons: 1. I've been doing this for 30+ years now, When I started, there was *no* information available about computer chess. I feel that we ought to have "sample" implementations to get everyone started. What's the point in discovering alpha/beta, move ordering, hash tables, evaluation ideas, null- move, and so forth independently? IE why not have a program (or programs) that illustrate all of these things so that you can start from what might be called "state-of-the-art" and then spend that valuable time developing *new* ideas and not re-inventing *old* ones again... 2. In my computer chess career, I've probably had more fun than any one person should have. :) And I thought it appropriate to return something to a field that has provided me much enjoyment and satisfaction... sort of "repaying" for the years of fun. 3. Making the source available does, on occasion, result in new ideas being sent to me, which is just "gravy" on the biscuit, IMHO... 4. I personally believe that if I tried to make this a commercial venture, that I would be out of computer chess within a few years. At present, I can do what I want, when I want, and at the pace that I choose. No Christmas shopping season to worry about, no deadlines, etc... 5. It is also interesting to address general issues, like parallel search, unix platforms, etc, rather than sticking directly in the market where there are the most potential customers (windows, obviously)...
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