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Subject: Idea: Release a slightly weakened, free version...

Author: Roger D Davis

Date: 22:10:59 09/15/05

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On September 15, 2005 at 23:33:24, A. Cozzie wrote:

>So after some negotiation Vincent and I have reached an impasse on the contract.
> I simply don't feel its in my best interests to sign the contract he has in
>mind.  I see no reason to mention details of our disagreement, but the reality
>is: a commercial version of Zappa is extremely unlikely at this point.
>
>Zappa 2.0 will be a private engine, as I simply do not have the time to deal
>with the computer chess community considering my workload as a student.  However
>Zappa will play in Paderborn and at the WCCC in Italy - and on some hardware
>that might surprise you ;)
>
>From now on any email that contains the word 'zappa' will be deleted by my spam
>filter, so if you have something to say please say it here.
>
>anthony




Anthony,

In part, I think maybe a few very vocal people have spoiled the fun for the rest
of us. I understand you wanting to keep the engine private, but the community
would really like to have it released. You're completely within your rights to
profit from it, but if it becomes clear that this will be impossible, then might
I humbly suggest you release it for free? At least someone gets the fun of
playing the engine...at least it can begin working its way up the SSDF
charts...at least then it gets the widespread testing that you'll need to
improve it further.

And if you don't want to give away the strongest version, then keep the
strongest version for yourself and your testers, and give away a free but
weakened and still awesome version so that the word about Zappa can spread far
and wide. This way, the community gets Zappa and you still get free publicity,
and when Zappa 2.x or 3.x goes commercial, you have an army of buyers already
waiting.

It's a win win for everybody. Don't let a few critics ruin it for people who
sincerely admire the progress you've made. They'd love to keep Zappa down.
Ignore them and think about the chess lovers who would sincerely enjoy your
engine. We're out there.

Roger




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