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Subject: Re: What will be the position of Windows in 3, 4 years in the future?

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 11:05:45 11/30/99

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On November 30, 1999 at 13:45:27, José de Jesús García Ruvalcaba wrote:
[snip]
>	Very little. Minimal influence. Not only for chess games, but also for software
>in general. Technical advantages it might have over Windows do not matter, as
>Bill Gates is the best businessman in the world and he can easily turn things in
>favor of Windows.

I think as a Web server Linux is probably the best business choice.  Look at the
cost of a 5000 user license for NT or any other commercial OS and you will
immediately see the incredible cost effectiveness of a Linux solution.

Business owners do fall victom to advertizing campaigns.  However, when it comes
to dollars and sense, they see the bottom line very well too.  I would be
astonished if Linux ever became the dominant desktop (but I said the same thing
about Microsoft's DOS -- I thought UNIX would destroy MS-DOS [one reason why I
did not bother with the original MS stock offer when I got the mail for it --
sigh.]).

As far as chess goes, I think Linux will have a large and postive impact.  There
are many reasons for this.  One of the chief reasons is that many universities
have some kind of chess research from time to time.  [Cilk, [IIRC]Knightcap,
etc.] and these are often developed on a Linux operating system.  Also, the
presense of X-Board makes a nice interface available to anyone who writes a
compatible engine.  There are many chess engines that are available *only* in
Linux and not in Win32.

However, I will be surprised if chess programs become a *commercial* hit on
Linux in the near future.



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