Author: David Blackman
Date: 23:07:16 11/13/99
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On November 14, 1999 at 00:53:54, odell hall wrote: > > > Would someone please explain to me the psychology or motivations behind >programmers who refuse to make their program available to the public. In my case it's because my program just isn't good enough, and there might be a bit of embarrasment if i released it. At its best a few years ago it was almost as good as Crafty, but Crafty has improved since then and my program apparently hasn't. You're probably more interested in the really good programs that aren't available. I haven't "been there", but i think i've been close enough to guess at the reasons. First thing, you have to decide if you want to sell it as a whole program, sell it as an engine, or give it away for free. Giving it away is easiest, because you don't have to meet market expectations for user interface quality, or for anything else really. But if you have a strong attachment to your program, and it's good, it would be very upsetting to see other people attempting to sell it claming they wrote it themselves. Just ask Bob. Also i suspect a lot of people are not giving their programs away for free, or are only giving away crippleware demos or old versions, because they have hopes of eventually selling the program commercially. Selling it as an engine for an existing user interface is the next easiest option. In fact for new chess engines entering the market now, this may be the only real option. This approach has a few problems though. There would be tricky negotiations over contracts. You would have to actually make the program work under the interface, which would be a significant amount of work. You would then have to do a lot of testing, and try to make sure the interface isn't crippling your program in some subtle way. Selling as a complete program would be really difficult. The existing user interfaces on the market are really good, and it would be difficult to build something competitive that wasn't a complete rip-off of something already out there. Looking at all the options, you can give it away which is easy to do, but some people wouldn't find that very rewarding. Or you can sell it, which involves a lot of hard work even if the engine is already good. Selling it doesn't guarantee you a lot of money, and even the most successful chess programmers are probably only making a decent income from it. Are Franz Morsch and Ed Shroeder filthy rich? Most of the chess programmers out there have day jobs, or some other source of income. If you go commercial, chess programming becomes like a second job, with an uncertain income, and for most people that's no fun. On the other hand if it's just a hobby, you can do as little or as much work as you like and enjoy yourself.
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