No.abulmo wrote:An example of an update, that appeared recently in the protocol is the way to report mate scores. The new protocol text specifies:. "should" is really a strong word. So, to me, an engine that does not display mate scores this way is not compliant, and neither is a GUI that does not correctly interpret such scores. Of course, they may still be working, but they are actually not compliant to the present protocol.Mate scores should be indicated as 100000 + N for "mate in N moves", and -100000 - N for "mated in N moves"
The protocol specs do not require a GUI to interpret mate scores. If a GUI decides to print '100006' in stead of 'mate in 6' wherever it prints scores, that would be perfectly compliant, and reasonably readable. And engines that print 32757 would still get 32757 printed even in GUIs adapted to this mate-score spec, like always. Absolutely nothing gets broken by this, it is fully backward compatible, both for GUIs and engines, and there are no drawbacks for engines adopting this standard. In fact even those benefit on legacy GUIs, as 100006 is a lot more user-friendly than 32757.
As to the qualification dead: Latin and classical Greek and Hebrew are usually referred to as dead languages. The fact that they are still taught in schools, and works by Homer in this language are still in print, and when any scrolls found in archeological digs would reveal hitherto unknown works of him would get instantly publised does not really alter that. However, if you think 'dead' is the wrong word, we could call it a 'living fossile'.
Your us of 'significant' actually more doubtful. Most truly significant engines from the past years, such as Sjaak II, Lima, HaChu or Shokidoki, all use WB protocol. Engines that just play orthodox Chess are basically ignored by everyone but an extremely small group of engine collectors (which of course are strongly over-represented on this forum) when they are more than 30 Elo behind Stockfish. No one else is interested in them, and they might as well not exist.