KOMODO for iOS - My $0.99 Back Please

[mar]

The problem seems clearly the 0.99$ based on the title of this thread
and I do not understand how a bad gui for 0.99$ can hurt komodo's sales
even if there is no update.

I see no reason to expect a good gui for 0.99$(My opinion is that if you pay that price then everything better than something bad is a bonus) and this thread is the first time that I read about the bad gui for komodo.

Please read the whole title and thread first.

KOMODO for iOS - My $0.99 Back Please

This is about the iOS version. You can't have a separate engine binary for iOS, so the only option is to integrate it into a GUI.

Of course it won't hurt it's sales, it will only hurt it's name.

[bretti]

Well the check popup is a novelty just to annoy the user even more I guess.

Although my german became a bit rusty:

"Scheinbar liegt die App auf der Höhe des insoweit vorbildlichen tChess"

Not even close. Comparing Chess Legends to t-Chess would be an insult to Tom Kerrigan and his app

That doesn´t mean the strange but the variability of levels (it only looks like it as Chess Legends has a bug at longer time controls). In my opinion tChess offers the best possibilitys to set time controls at iOS. Second best is the lack conviction "Fritz Chess".
tChess http://www.warnemuende.cc/forum/viewtop ... f=15&t=579
Fritz Chess http://www.warnemuende.cc/forum/viewtop ... f=15&t=582

[mar]

That doesn´t mean the strange but the variability of levels (it only looks like it as Chess Legends has a bug at longer time controls). In my opinion tChess offers the best possibilitys to set time controls at iOS. Second best is the lack conviction "Fritz Chess".
tChess http://www.warnemuende.cc/forum/viewtop ... f=15&t=579
Fritz Chess http://www.warnemuende.cc/forum/viewtop ... f=15&t=582

Ah I see my quote was out of context, I misunderstood. Thought you mean the overall quality of the application. My apologies.

[bretti]

the ipad is not for power users. its more for children and for fun.

why do you need variations or search info on a toyish hardware ?

buy an android device. install CHESS by aart bik and run komodo as
UCI engine with all stuff a power user needs.

You obviously fail to understand that this is due to OS restrictions, it has nothing to do with the hardware itself.
You can't execute code from data sections (therefore JIT is impossible) and you can't spawn processes. These are security measurements.
Once these restrictions are gone, you will see UCI/WB engines on iOS devices.
Plain and simple. Perhaps even a power user such as yourself can understand this.

Absolutely right. One should remember that the first strong chess app for iOS was indeed Glaurung (only) for jailbreaked devices. It would be possible to build an app like CHESS for android and offer it at the Cydia store with all the strong uci-engines you want.
And Tord Romstad wrote it would be easy for any developer to use the Stockfish-GUI with any uci-engine at iOS.

[bretti]

That doesn´t mean the strange but the variability of levels (it only looks like it as Chess Legends has a bug at longer time controls). In my opinion tChess offers the best possibilitys to set time controls at iOS. Second best is the lack conviction "Fritz Chess".
tChess http://www.warnemuende.cc/forum/viewtop ... f=15&t=579
Fritz Chess http://www.warnemuende.cc/forum/viewtop ... f=15&t=582

Ah I see my quote was out of context, I misunderstood. Thought you mean the overall quality of the application. My apologies.

No problem, my german explanation wouldn´t win the Pulitzer-Preis...

[Uri Blass]

The problem seems clearly the 0.99$ based on the title of this thread
and I do not understand how a bad gui for 0.99$ can hurt komodo's sales
even if there is no update.

I see no reason to expect a good gui for 0.99$(My opinion is that if you pay that price then everything better than something bad is a bonus) and this thread is the first time that I read about the bad gui for komodo.

Please read the whole title and thread first.

KOMODO for iOS - My $0.99 Back Please

This is about the iOS version. You can't have a separate engine binary for iOS, so the only option is to integrate it into a GUI.
Of course it won't hurt it's sales, it will only hurt it's name.

I understood the thread and again the title of the thread ask the 0.99$ back.

I do not care about the fact that you cannot have a seperate engine binary for iOS(I do not use iOS and do not plan to use it)

The facts based on my understanding is that people got a bad gui(including the Komodo engine) for 0.99$ and I see no reason to expect to have some good software for 0.99$(you can get good free software but I see no justification to complain when free software is not good and the same for software with price of 0.99$).

If I understand wrong and the people who payed the 0.99$ payed also for the komodo engine seperately then I still think that they have no basis to complain.

People who buy the komodo engine do it for using it on normal hardware.
Possibility to use it on iOS is only a possible bonus and if you pay for this bonus only 0.99$ then you cannot expect a good gui.

[mar]

I understood the thread and again the title of the thread ask the 0.99$ back.

Well I guess that was sarcasm.

EDIT: The point is that the gui is really bad. It's like having a Picasso painting in the museum with a dirty rag over it. The entry fee doesn't really matter here.

[hgm]

Never buy an OS where you cannot spawn processes. That sucks in the extreme. Once you do, you have no right to complain about anything...

[kinderchocolate]

Sorry I don't agree with the correlation between price and quality. Angry Bird is the best app in the world but it is also a dollar. A cheap GUI can also be as good as anything else.

This is a common case where someone outsource the work to India and screwed.

[Don]

This program is still in the beta stage, it is terrible compared to the other good GUI's like Stockfish, HIARCS or Chess Tiger!

I feel Don has taken advantage of me

I could have bought something good with that money...like a pack of baseball cards, with gum included!

Sean

I have been in communication with them and they have agreed to improve this significantly. I expressed my disappointment to them but just so you know I have not been as involved as I want to be and I complained about that too. They would occasionally send me prototypes but they didn't communicate as much as I would have liked. I actually sent them lists of things that were needed to bring this up to a minimally acceptable level but they would usually just take one think on the list.

I honestly think they were over their heads on this - not due to any incompetence because I think they are very capable and skilled but they didn't have any understanding whatsoever of the amount of work it would involve nor did they understand chess culture. We have the advantage of seeing decades of GUI's for chess and know what works - they had no clue.

But they seem committed now to improving this and listening. I don't want to overwhelm them so I am trying to get them to focus on a minimally useful set of features and changes that strong players have come to expect. It can be improved with time which I hope they will be willing to do.

They are going to focus on the IPAD for now because the Android poses a lot more problems due to various screen sizes and seemingly infinite hardware.

I don't know how this will turn out - but we will see ....

I don't really have any say over their marketing or sales, so I cannot personally get you a refund. If it's really that important to you I will send you 99 US pennies if you agree to pay the postage on it. I'll take it from my piggy bank.