Author: Graham Laight
Date: 05:02:52 08/22/05
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On August 22, 2005 at 04:05:26, Ed Schröder wrote: >On August 21, 2005 at 14:51:17, Fernando Villegas wrote: > >>As it have been mentioned here convincingly by several members, commercial >>programs face at least a crisis. In short, why people is going to purchase >>programs that are matched and even sometimes defeated on a regular base by some >>exceptional freeware stuff? > >Don't overdo things. If you think Chessbase earnings and existence depend on the >results of a WCCC and/or the sales to us freaks you are sadly mistaken. For sure >they will lose some sales because freaks like us know where to get the other >stuff and know how to install it. Real sales don't depend on the freaks but on >the renown and reputation of your brand name, Chessmaster being the perfect >example of that. It is possible that the victory for two amateur programs at the WCCC will be as significant a moment in computer chess history as the GK v DB match was in 1997 - or Hydra v Adams this year. It may be that chess programs can survive on brand name alone - but how many can do that? IMO, only two: the one with the biggest market share and one other. There will still be niches that amateurs will be unable to fill (e.g. chess databases) - but I'm afraid that the days of making good money for good chess software are over for all except the brand-name owners. Even there, you'll probably find that the brand-name owner makes the big money, while the hired-hands who write/enhance the software get only a salary. This is not just a phenomenon in chess I'm afraid - most areas of commercial software are gradually coming under attack from increasingly good free competition. -g >Ed
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