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Subject: Re: Is it time for the Winboard Protocol to go the way of the Dodo?

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 09:56:47 03/10/05

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On March 09, 2005 at 15:59:48, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:

>>Assumes you can trust the GUI, which so far has apparently been too difficult
>>for most GUI creators. Can't trust any ChessBase GUI (hash table memory bug),
>>can't trust Arena (UCI engine will randomly quit responding when playing on ICS,
>>Arena will randomly crash while playing a computer match, and so on). I can
>>trust the Winboard GUI. If Winboard gets UCI support, then maybe this drawback
>>will go away.

>This is an implementation issue and not a protocol problem. I can make buggy
>xboard interfaces, too.

I agree, but it is a genuine practical concern. A protocol isn't useful without
implementations, and the quality of available implementations is important. Is
there any GUI that supports UCI as well as Winboard (the program) supports its
own protocol? Is the GUI portable? Is it free? Is it open source? That is a lot
to ask from a GUI, and maybe that is unfair, but that is what Winboard (the
program) has going for it, so I'll continue to use protocols that it supports.
How pretty the GUI looks and all the other bells and whistles are insignificant
if the GUI crashes, or my engine falls out of sync with the current ICC game and
loses on time, and so on.



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