[computer-go] experiments in alpha beta

[Don Dailey]

Ian Osgood wrote:
> On Feb 7, 2008, at 8:43 AM, Don Dailey wrote:
>
>> I'm thinking about upgrading my palm OS  Go program and I'm looking for
>> ways to strengthen it without adding a lot of code or memory.
>> Basically I want the strongest possible program that is truly "light" in
>> every way.
>>
>> PDA's of course are MUCH slower than PC's,  and memory is at a premium
>> although that has been improved somewhat over the years.   However for
>> the current Palm OS,  using a lot of memory is a bit of a hack,
>> reminding me of the old days of DOS where you could use a lot of memory
>> but you had to do extra programming to get away with it.
>>
>> - Don
>
> I'm surprised that the big names in Go programming a decade ago
> haven't ported their programs to the small handheld platforms. I only
> know of AI Go for the Nintendo DS (Many Faces). In the chess arena,
> Richard Lang ported his last Mephisto program from the 80s (Roma) to
> the Palm and then to the PocketPC.  Chess Genius is now one of the top
> selling games of any kind on these platforms. The authors of the
> strong programs Shredder and HIARCS have also followed suit. I would
> have thought this a vast untapped market, especially in Asia where
> gadgets are so prevalent.
>
You would think that,  but Ogo sold only a few hundred copies, and most
of them in Europe and the USA.    I don't know if this is true, but I
heard that Asian markets are difficult to penetrate and that even with
the internet you cannot expect to get many sales.    I did get SOME
sales from those places,  but very few relative to Europe and USA.

I bought Chess Genius for the palm,  one of my favorite programs.   I
didn't try the others.


- Don


> Ian
>
> _______________________________________________
> computer-go mailing list
> computer-go at computer-go.org
> http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/
>