cheap selling price of the top programs, Houdini 4

[kgburcham]

Stockfish is probably in the top three programs for now and is free, totally free, just download and play.
Komodo may be the strongest program for now and was extremely cheap at $30, almost nothing, a family of four meal at Mcdonalds. I send $80 to Saudia Arabia everytime I fill my Dodge pickup but got Komodo almost for free and I got stockfish for free.

So now how will Houdart price his Houdini 4 when it seems stockfish and komodo are just as strong?
it will seem weird getting Houdini 4 for free or almost free at $30.


I have been buying chess programs for years. A lot of money. They are all on the shelf in cases. I always buy the chessbase version when available in the case, so I always pay top dollar not the cheaper download version. I have bought two versions of Komodo 6 and 3 or 4 versions of Houdini 3.
If Komodo is released in a chessbase version then I will buy it and just put it on the shelf.
So I will buy Houdini 4 in the chessbase version even though it just lost a game with white in Tcec against the free stockfish, and it will probably be 3 times what Komodo cost even though it seems to be equal in strength to Komodo.
I will tell my wife that if I die before her, my chess program collection is worth $0 and to just throw it all in the trash. I assume most programs will start being free or real cheap from now on.
Since programs are going to be free or dirt cheap now, I hope chessbase can stay in business.

Oh well doesn't matter right? The cheap has started.
kgburcham

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Stockfish is probably in the top three programs for now and is free, totally free, just download and play.
Komodo may be the strongest program for now and was extremely cheap at $30, almost nothing, a family of four meal at Mcdonalds. I send $80 to Saudia Arabia everytime I fill my Dodge pickup but got Komodo almost for free and I got stockfish for free.

So now how will Houdart price his Houdini 4 when it seems stockfish and komodo are just as strong?
it will seem weird getting Houdini 4 for free or almost free at $30.


I have been buying chess programs for years. A lot of money. They are all on the shelf in cases. I always buy the chessbase version when available in the case, so I always pay top dollar not the cheaper download version. I have bought two versions of Komodo 6 and 3 or 4 versions of Houdini 3.
If Komodo is released in a chessbase version then I will buy it and just put it on the shelf.
So I will buy Houdini 4 in the chessbase version even though it just lost a game with white in Tcec against the free stockfish, and it will probably be 3 times what Komodo cost even though it seems to be equal in strength to Komodo.
I will tell my wife that if I die before her, my chess program collection is worth $0 and to just throw it all in the trash. I assume most programs will start being free or real cheap from now on.
Since programs are going to be free or dirt cheap now, I hope chessbase can stay in business.

Oh well doesn't matter right? The cheap has started.
kgburcham

Are you sure they go there Kim

[kgburcham]

Stockfish is probably in the top three programs for now and is free, totally free, just download and play.
Komodo may be the strongest program for now and was extremely cheap at $30, almost nothing, a family of four meal at Mcdonalds. I send $80 to Saudia Arabia everytime I fill my Dodge pickup but got Komodo almost for free and I got stockfish for free.

So now how will Houdart price his Houdini 4 when it seems stockfish and komodo are just as strong?
it will seem weird getting Houdini 4 for free or almost free at $30.


I have been buying chess programs for years. A lot of money. They are all on the shelf in cases. I always buy the chessbase version when available in the case, so I always pay top dollar not the cheaper download version. I have bought two versions of Komodo 6 and 3 or 4 versions of Houdini 3.
If Komodo is released in a chessbase version then I will buy it and just put it on the shelf.
So I will buy Houdini 4 in the chessbase version even though it just lost a game with white in Tcec against the free stockfish, and it will probably be 3 times what Komodo cost even though it seems to be equal in strength to Komodo.
I will tell my wife that if I die before her, my chess program collection is worth $0 and to just throw it all in the trash. I assume most programs will start being free or real cheap from now on.
Since programs are going to be free or dirt cheap now, I hope chessbase can stay in business.

Oh well doesn't matter right? The cheap has started.
kgburcham

Are you sure they go there Kim

the programs? not sure what you were saying.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Stockfish is probably in the top three programs for now and is free, totally free, just download and play.
Komodo may be the strongest program for now and was extremely cheap at $30, almost nothing, a family of four meal at Mcdonalds. I send $80 to Saudia Arabia everytime I fill my Dodge pickup but got Komodo almost for free and I got stockfish for free.

So now how will Houdart price his Houdini 4 when it seems stockfish and komodo are just as strong?
it will seem weird getting Houdini 4 for free or almost free at $30.


I have been buying chess programs for years. A lot of money. They are all on the shelf in cases. I always buy the chessbase version when available in the case, so I always pay top dollar not the cheaper download version. I have bought two versions of Komodo 6 and 3 or 4 versions of Houdini 3.
If Komodo is released in a chessbase version then I will buy it and just put it on the shelf.
So I will buy Houdini 4 in the chessbase version even though it just lost a game with white in Tcec against the free stockfish, and it will probably be 3 times what Komodo cost even though it seems to be equal in strength to Komodo.
I will tell my wife that if I die before her, my chess program collection is worth $0 and to just throw it all in the trash. I assume most programs will start being free or real cheap from now on.
Since programs are going to be free or dirt cheap now, I hope chessbase can stay in business.

Oh well doesn't matter right? The cheap has started.
kgburcham

Are you sure they go there Kim

the programs? not sure what you were saying.

I send $80 to Saudia Arabia everytime I fill my Dodge pickup

[/b]

[kgburcham]

Stockfish is probably in the top three programs for now and is free, totally free, just download and play.
Komodo may be the strongest program for now and was extremely cheap at $30, almost nothing, a family of four meal at Mcdonalds. I send $80 to Saudia Arabia everytime I fill my Dodge pickup but got Komodo almost for free and I got stockfish for free.

So now how will Houdart price his Houdini 4 when it seems stockfish and komodo are just as strong?
it will seem weird getting Houdini 4 for free or almost free at $30.


I have been buying chess programs for years. A lot of money. They are all on the shelf in cases. I always buy the chessbase version when available in the case, so I always pay top dollar not the cheaper download version. I have bought two versions of Komodo 6 and 3 or 4 versions of Houdini 3.
If Komodo is released in a chessbase version then I will buy it and just put it on the shelf.
So I will buy Houdini 4 in the chessbase version even though it just lost a game with white in Tcec against the free stockfish, and it will probably be 3 times what Komodo cost even though it seems to be equal in strength to Komodo.
I will tell my wife that if I die before her, my chess program collection is worth $0 and to just throw it all in the trash. I assume most programs will start being free or real cheap from now on.
Since programs are going to be free or dirt cheap now, I hope chessbase can stay in business.

Oh well doesn't matter right? The cheap has started.
kgburcham

Are you sure they go there Kim

the programs? not sure what you were saying.

I send $80 to Saudia Arabia everytime I fill my Dodge pickup
[/b]

OK I wondered if that is what you meant.
Sure you are correct, that fuel money could end up anywhere. I assume some could also stay in the states.
I just said Saudia because they are rich with American dollars, others are too.

But my point was, I wonder what Robert Houdart is going to base his decision on, Stockfish free, Komodo $30, Critter free, so it will be interesting to see if Houdini 4 Pro smp sells for $95
kgburcham

[fern]

Karl, when you have considered to die?
I ask that because I have an splendid trash service for free at your disposal.

Satisfied Customers all the Time regards
Fern

[Henk]

If you can buy the best chess program there is for only one dollar, that is a good reason to die. (It may give you a heart attack).

[reflectionofpower]

I remember the days of paying $119.99 for M-Chess Pro,Genius,Gideon Pro like 15 years ago. I would buy them every time a new version came out. The open source programs have certainly been a gold mine for computer chess nuts but it obviously hurts those looking to make some coin off their hard work.

[OneTrickPony]

I agree with your sentiment. I want to pay good money for top engine and I like that the authors make money.
This is tough problem for engine makers though. Set the price too high and people will not buy, especially if your engine isn't at the top strengh-wise.
I only bought Houdini so far because I wanted the best one for analysis. Now I want version of Komodo playing in TCEC and I am waiting for it to be released. I will be more than happy to shell say 100$ being happy the money goes to the authors of this awesomeness.
Most people will be reluctant to pay that much though. Maybe the authors could think about some "pro" version which could contain some not necessary (to not discourage buyers of normal version) but nice things to have (support for more cores, some more configuration options to play with, maybe some bonus logging options or some to support long analysis like excluding moves/variation in infinite analysis etc.).
Main purpose of it could be to take more money from people happy to pay it and given some small extras for that, something like with hotel rooms or car versions.

[IGarcia]

It can happen that komodo now get more expensive, instead of houdini cheaper. Special after all the propaganda on TCEC. So, we can have komodo 7 =99$, houdini 4= 95$, and Stockfish free.

... Now I want version of Komodo playing in TCEC and I am waiting for it to be released. I will be more than happy to shell say 100$ being happy the money goes to the authors of this awesomeness.

What awesomeness ?
komodo (dev) had a good tournament and well deserved 1st place, but the current result is statistically insignificant. And is that enough for you to pay 100$?