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Subject: Re: chessbase is selling free engines

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 04:55:32 07/25/04

Go up one level in this thread


On July 25, 2004 at 07:49:43, Uri Blass wrote:

>On July 25, 2004 at 07:43:57, Uri Blass wrote:
>
>>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
>
>Maybe I am wrong and I checked again and I do not remember a release of Ikarus
>so maybe Ikarus is the only exception.
>
>Uri

checking again for Ikarus chess in google it seems that there is a mistake in
the following site

http://www.aarontay.per.sg/Winboard/privateware.html

They claim that Ikarus is a private chess engine when they miss the fact that
chessbase still sell it today not as part of the young talents but as a seperate
engine.

I think that it is better to delete Ikarus from the list of the private engines.

Uri



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