Author: Alastair Scott
Date: 11:45:04 07/04/03
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On July 04, 2003 at 08:44:42, ludicrous wrote: >If a super strong program like Ruffian was taken back in the early 80's in the >form of a 3.0 Ghz PC, with a chessbase interface, about how much would a chess >fanatic back then be willing to pay (including the PC) for it? Well, an early 1980s speed equivalent of the 3GHz PC would probably cost millions of pounds, even if it were possible at all; you would have to go to mainframes or possibly even supercomputers for equivalent performance. I disagree with the idea that the software would be of zero cost; the development cost would certainly not be zero even if the programmer's time was freely given. In those days the number of computers was relatively small, access to each one was generally strictly controlled (particularly with one of the power needed!) and it's almost certain the programmer would have to pay for that access. I remember, in the late 1980s, paying 7 pence an A4 sheet for output from a laser printer for that reason; it was the only laser printer in the building at the time. So a wild guess at the equivalent worth would be £1,000,000s for the hardware and £100s for the software. (Plus the electricity, which would be non-negligible :) Alastair
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