Author: Uri Blass
Date: 04:43:57 07/25/04
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On July 25, 2004 at 07:21:20, Ingo Bauer wrote: >On July 25, 2004 at 06:26:14, Uri Blass wrote: > >>I was surprised to see that all the cheap engines that chessbase is selling are >>free engines. >> >>I was also surprised that they sell old version of Sos from march 2000 but maybe >>they believe that customers that buy engines instead of downloading them >>deserve to get a worse version >> >>See http://www.chessbase.com/shop/index.asp?cat=Engines+direct&user=&coin= >> >>I wonder if the authors also earn money from it. >>If few people want to support programmers by buying free programs because they >>feel uncomfortable with downloading them when the author gets nothing from it >>then there is no problem with it but I expect honest company to tell the >>customers that the things that they buy are free to download and if they buy >>them then it is only if they want to give some support to the programmers. > >What you are writing is not completly true. > >Chessbase sold (and is probably selling) these engines since 2000. At that point >ALL the engines on that CD where not freely available (maybe precessors but not >the CD Version). As an example SOS in an older Version where free but the >version on that CD is not free untill today. >But if the CD Version is better than the actual one is highly doubtfull! > >I am pretty sure that the authors back then got some money from chessbase. It >didnt make them rich for sure. The project was never continued by Chessbase. This is exactly the point. The project was never continued by chessbase and I find illogical to continue to sell engines when all of them are free or there are better versions that are free. customers who look at the chessbase page to see engines that they can buy may become angry when they see that chessbase want to sell them free engines and may decide not to buy from chessbase so I am even not sure if it is a good deal for chessbase. When they sold the young talents and part of the engines became free then I can understand their decision to continue to sell the young talents because part of the engines are still not free but when all the engines became free with no exception as far as I can see then I see no point in selling the engines unless they sell with them something else like a different interface but in that case they should say that the engines are free and customers who buy them only get new interface in case that they did not buy other engines from chessbase. I remember that I also asked how Sos got the best amateur in WCCC when it was sold by chessbase but if I remember correctly at that time it was sold as part of the young talents and not seperately. Uri
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