Author: Peter Skinner
Date: 08:16:00 02/15/04
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On February 15, 2004 at 10:49:18, Bob Durrett wrote: >You are right if you're talking about a new PC every few years. There are some on this board that upgrade hardware every few months, not years. >But the Hydra board might only cost $200 if enough of them are made. Coming up >with $200 is a lot easier than coming up with $5000. Some people spend that >much money on chess software without giving it a second thought! > >Remember the dedicated chess computers. They sold like hot cakes for awhile. While the card _might_ only cost $200, a free program like Crafty could overtake it on the board and then you would be kicking yourself in the rear. Most of the top programs today sell for less than $100 CDN. Here is how many "releases" I have purchased over the years: Fritz 5.32,6, Deep Fritz 7, Fritz 8 Shredder 3.0, Shredder 6, Shredder 7, Shredder 8 Gandalf 4.32g, Gandalf 5.0 (was also beta tester for Gandalf 4.32 up to version F) Hiarcs 5.32, Hiarcs 8 Junior 5,6,8 Deep Sjeng 1.0 Tiger 12, 13(*), 14, 15 (*Was beta tester of Rebel Tiger) I have skipped some versions of the programs listed, but in total I think I may have spent about $1500 in programs over a few _years_. In the same time I have spent about $1200 on actual hardware. I always read reviews, look at how programs fair on rating lists and then make my purchase. Just because a new version is out doesn't mean I buy it. If the Chessbase interface was able to connect on it's own to ICC/FICS I would purchase _every_ single program they offer. As it doesn't I only purchase the ones that show improvement over the previous release. I happen to really like Fritz so I purchase almost every version, and some I purchase as the programmers or book authors I know personally or have dealt with and consider them friends. I started purchasing Shredder again after it could be used inside the Chess Partner interface to connect to ICC/FICS. But normally you will find me using most Winboard compatible programs on the servers as I like the clean, small footprint it leaves on my hard drive, and it easily maintained. For some it is not about owning the _best_ program. It is about owning their _favorite_ program. Hydra/Brutus can hardly be factored in after just one tournament. Peter.
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