Daily iPhone chess programs releases

[tiger]

Is this app up for sale/download for the 3 network (in the UK)?

If you have an iPhone, an iPod touch or an iPad, then yes it is for sale in the UK. I think your mobile operator does not matter.


// Christophe

[bretti]

ChessTiger is a very good App and I am happy with it (see also my german write-up at the App Store)!

These are my suggestions for some little improvements:
- iPad-Version
- score should be +: white is better and -: black is better
- show book moves
- show "Mode" instead of "Rules" (or just if "show Rules" is off), so you can faster switch between analyse-mode and play-mode
- possibility to switch off the green paths in analyse-mode
- move with one click on explicit positions

Thank you for the great and entertaining new App!

[JuLieN]

Stockfish for iPhone/iPad (it's a universal app) just got updated to v2.3. List of changes:

[*] Playing strength improved by about 30 Elo points.
[*] Supports dual-core CPUs, for faster and stronger play on the iPad 2.
[*] Weaker play at the easiest levels.
[*] Numerous bug fixes.

So, Stockfish is now both stronger and weaker!

Congrats to Tord and the Stockfish team!

[tomgdrums]

Stockfish for iPhone/iPad (it's a universal app) just got updated to v2.3. List of changes:

[*] Playing strength improved by about 30 Elo points.
[*] Supports dual-core CPUs, for faster and stronger play on the iPad 2.
[*] Weaker play at the easiest levels.
[*] Numerous bug fixes.

So, Stockfish is now both stronger and weaker!

Congrats to Tord and the Stockfish team!

I wish the the actual Stockfish team would make Stockfish for the Android.

The Android version (Droidfish) which is not made by them does not have the limit strength feature so it isn't much fun.

[Cubeman]

Stockfish for iPhone/iPad (it's a universal app) just got updated to v2.3. List of changes:

[*] Playing strength improved by about 30 Elo points.
[*] Supports dual-core CPUs, for faster and stronger play on the iPad 2.
[*] Weaker play at the easiest levels.
[*] Numerous bug fixes.

So, Stockfish is now both stronger and weaker!

Congrats to Tord and the Stockfish team!

I wish the the actual Stockfish team would make Stockfish for the Android.

The Android version (Droidfish) which is not made by them does not have the limit strength feature so it isn't much fun.

I agree, also a version for PocketFritz would be nice.Not much work involved just a dirty port of the engine is all that is required.

[Tord Romstad]

Stockfish for iPhone/iPad (it's a universal app) just got updated to v2.3.

Already? Damn, the App Store review process is a lot faster than it used to be. It has reached the stage where the CCC knows about the latest release of my program before I know it myself.

This means I should hurry up and make the source code available for download.

By the way, I've already discovered a minor bug in this new version: If you adjust the strength down to some value below 2500, and then return back to the strength option later, the scroller will incorrectly start at 2500 rather than at the currently selected strength.

[Tord Romstad]

I wish the the actual Stockfish team would make Stockfish for the Android.

Not totally impossible, but we have no such plans at the moment.

Porting to Android is complicated for several reasons. Learning to develop for an entirely new and unfamiliar platform takes time, but that's not even the most important problem. The really big problem is that I would need an actual Android device for development and testing. In principle it would be possible to use an emulator for development and testing, but in practice this is highly undesirable, for at least two reasons:

• User interface solutions which work well when pointing and clicking with a mouse in the emulator often turn out to be very awkward when operating the program with fingers on a device (as I discovered many times while working on the iOS version of Stockfish).
• In order to familiarize myself with the UI paradigm, I would have to play with a lot of different Android programs before designing my own. Otherwise, I would end up with a program that doesn't look and feel like an Android app.

As you know, Stockfish is a non-profit project, and buying an Android device would cost a non-trivial amount of money. Moreover, I neither need nor want one. It would only collect dust except when I used it for testing and developing Stockfish.

[Steve Maughan]

Hi Tord,

The solution would be for you to charge $1 for Stockfish. Then you'd easily have enough cash to buy an Android phone (and pay the monthly bill).

Capitalistic Regards,

Steve

[Tord Romstad]

The solution would be for you to charge $1 for Stockfish.

That would only replace the problem of obtaining a device I don't need and don't want for money by the only mildly less painful problem of obtaining a device I don't need and don't want for free. I hate owning things, especially things I never or almost never use. Life is so much easier with fewer possessions. Charging for my program would also add lots of unpleasantness in the form of customer support and tedious paperwork (arranging for international bank transfers to my account, paying taxes, etc.). As I have said many times before, it would only make my life more complicated and less free. Last but not least, charging for Stockfish would force me to compete with other commercial programmers, and more competition is the last thing this community needs.

In short, Stockfish for iOS will remain free (in both senses of the word) because I value freedom over money, and cooperation over competition.

Then you'd easily have enough cash to buy an Android phone (and pay the monthly bill).

Paying a monthly bill for a phone I would never ever use seems extremely absurd, even if the expenses would be covered by charging for my app. But I guess it is possible to find some sort of Android tablet or PDA without a data plan, too.

Capitalistic Regards

Steve

Anarchistic Regards

Tord

[tomgdrums]

The solution would be for you to charge $1 for Stockfish.

That would only replace the problem of obtaining a device I don't need and don't want for money by the only mildly less painful problem of obtaining a device I don't need and don't want for free. I hate owning things, especially things I never or almost never use. Life is so much easier with fewer possessions. Charging for my program would also add lots of unpleasantness in the form of customer support and tedious paperwork (arranging for international bank transfers to my account, paying taxes, etc.). As I have said many times before, it would only make my life more complicated and less free. Last but not least, charging for Stockfish would force me to compete with other commercial programmers, and more competition is the last thing this community needs.

In short, Stockfish for iOS will remain free (in both senses of the word) because I value freedom over money, and cooperation over competition.

Then you'd easily have enough cash to buy an Android phone (and pay the monthly bill).

Paying a monthly bill for a phone I would never ever use seems extremely absurd, even if the expenses would be covered by charging for my app. But I guess it is possible to find some sort of Android tablet or PDA without a data plan, too.

Capitalistic Regards

Steve

Anarchistic Regards

Tord

Hi Tord,

I totally respect and admire your way of dealing with Stockfish and I also agree that it is much cooler to own less things.

I am down to a laptop and my droid phone! Not tv, no desktop, no landline..and I like it!

My pining for a Stockfish droid program from the actual Stockfish team was just wishful thinking.