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Subject: Re: Price? A commercial program costs less than a free program

Author: Christophe Theron

Date: 10:29:22 11/01/99

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On November 01, 1999 at 12:56:08, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>On November 01, 1999 at 03:05:49, Christophe Theron wrote:
>
>>On October 31, 1999 at 21:50:25, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>Here is what I do in a typical week:  I edit and compile and debug (using a
>>>GUI debugger or a text debugger depending on 'mood') C programs.  I write
>>>papers using a text formatter.  I edit graphical images.  I run a browser
>>>to prowl the net looking for things.  I access many sites via anonymous ftp,
>>>as well as provide anonymous ftp for everyone wanting the crafty stuff and
>>>Eugene's stuff.  I handle about 50 email messages per day, and run an email
>>>client with folders, capable of replying to email or postint to usenet depending
>>>on how the email was delivered.  I read usenet news daily and post to it.  I
>>>run Java applets.  I run network monitoring tools.  That is a part of a week's
>>>activities.  I play music CDs on my sound system thru my computer.  I run xboard
>>>to access ICC and to allow crafty to play there.
>>>
>>>The software I use to do all that cost me $2.95 to get a redhat 6.0 CD from
>>>cheapbytes.  How much did you pay for _your_ software?
>>
>>
>>The question of the price is indeed interesting.
>>
>>As we have seen recently, a commercial program running on PII-300 (Chess Tiger
>>12.0) has won a match against Crafty running on PIII-500.
>>
>>So in short you get more strength from
>>* a PII-300 + commercial program
>>than from
>>* a PIII-500 + Crafty 16.18
>>
>>Given the difference in price between these hard/soft combinations, I say that
>>to reach a given strength, the commercial program is CHEAPER than Crafty.
>>
>>This is true for other commercial programs as well, Tiger is just an example.
>>
>>
>>    Christophe
>
>Heck, I'm sure that everyone out there buys a computer simply to play chess with
>it.
>
>bruce


If you don't buy a computer only to play chess, buy a commercial program. You'll
get more strength on the hardware you have.

BTW I know a lot of people here that upgrade their computers mainly to get more
chess playing strength. But these already buy commercial programs.



    Christophe



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