Author: stuart taylor
Date: 16:01:14 09/13/03
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On September 12, 2003 at 07:09:20, Alastair Scott wrote: >On September 12, 2003 at 06:53:47, stuart taylor wrote: > >>When a new program comes out, some people can't think of anything more important >>than the interface! >>Isn't it a bit like thinking only about the face when it comes to a woman? (or >>other external features, rather than true qualities) >>S.Taylor > >This is a false analogy because, in the case of chess software, the "true >qualities" are inevitably refined to a wonderfully high standard. The engine has >become less important (!) because, for 99 per cent of users, it is so >overwhelmingly strong it barely matters what it is. > >Thus the means of using what the engine offers - and, more importantly, watering >them down - become much more important. That is a huge turnaround from 10 years >ago when engines _were_ differentiable by people like me :) > >(Similarly with a word processor, for example; nobody cares about facilities >such as the word wrapping, hyphenation and font placement algorithms because >they "just work", albeit after many years of experimentation and effort to find >the best way of doing them, but change a keyboard shortcut or make other >arbitrary alterations to the user interface and there will be trouble!). > >Alastair Like when flying in a plane, no one thinks how wondrous it is that the plane doesn't land unceremoniously, before reaching its destination etc. And no one thinks about the Wright Brothers who invented the plane, or about all the many awesome improvements since then and how great the whole idea is, of going through mid-air etc. All people think about is the meal, the duty-free shopping on board, the films, the comforts, which class, if it will be delayed, and other such things. I also think of these things, but I have to fight myself to keep only a slight constant awareness as to where I am in the world, and to remember that that is the most staggering thing to think about regarding the flight. S.Taylor
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