Houdini 2 Aquarium released

[Houdini]

ChessOK has now released the Houdini 2 Aquarium product family, see http://chessok.com/?p=25808 .
It was a logical step to combine the best GUI (Aquarium) with the strongest engine (Houdini), Houdini Aquarium is the result.

The package includes Houdini 2.0b, this is an update to Houdini 2 containing some minor bug fixes and Nalimov EGTB support. This update will also be made available to all current Houdini 2 users, e-mails will be sent in the following week.

Houdini Aquarium is available at a (in my opinion) very attractive price, I know of no no other hobby in which you can obtain the world's best for so little money.

Cheers,
Robert

[mcostalba]

One thing that we have to recognize to Vas (and all the other commercial engines authors) is that when they want to advertise their product they have the sensibility to use their own forum.

Times have changed it seems.

[Houdini]

Marco, I am actually quite reluctant to post here.

But unfortunately, there is so much nonsense that is written on this forum about everything related to Houdini (see the other thread "The ChessOK, the Houdini & Robert....") that after a while I feel the need to provide some factual, correct information about what is happening.

Feel free to ignore this thread if you're not interested in Houdini or Aquarium.

Robert

[mcostalba]

Marco, I am actually quite reluctant to post here.

But unfortunately, there is so much nonsense that is written on this forum about everything related to Houdini (see the other thread "The ChessOK, the Houdini & Robert....") that after a while I feel the need to provide some factual, correct information about what is happening.

Feel free to ignore this thread if you're not interested in Houdini or Aquarium.

Robert

Robert,

you are correct, I am not interested in Houdini or Aquarium, and I didn't post because of Houdini, if Shredder, Rybka, Hiarcs or any other commercial engine author had written a post like yours I had probably replied in the same way. Is not a post against Houdini, but against a certain way to use a public forum.

Robert, you are not providing some factual information, you are advertising your new bundle with Aquarium: I try to answer you in a serious and respectful (for your intelligence) way, please be so kind to do the same.

Thanks
Marco

[hgm]

I know of no no other hobby in which you can obtain the world's best for so little money.

Gothic Chess?

btw, this threat qualifies as a "commercial exhortation", and is thus a very explicit violation of the CCC charter. I therefore expect it to be deleted when the moderators wake up...

[Mike S.]

Please, it must be possible that every programmer writes short notices like that, once in while and/or when a new version or an update is released. Disregarding if it's free, commercial or whatever. This is 90% information - and maybe 10% advertisement but I think we will survive that...

[hgm]

All advertizement is informations. That the product is available, what it does, how it is improved, what its strong suites are, how much customer support will be included, what it costs, how you can order it... That's all information.

The current post is rather thin with information that does not have commercial relevance. "Some minor bugfixes and Nalimov support." If that had been the only sentence, it would indeed have been acceptable. But all the rest is quite irrelevant from the viewpoint of an update on the engine info, and only serves commercial purposes.

[kgburcham]

Marco, I am actually quite reluctant to post here.
But unfortunately, there is so much nonsense that is written on this forum about everything related to Houdini (see the other thread "The ChessOK, the Houdini & Robert....") that after a while I feel the need to provide some factual, correct information about what is happening.
Feel free to ignore this thread if you're not interested in Houdini or Aquarium.
Robert

Robert,
you are correct, I am not interested in Houdini or Aquarium, and I didn't post because of Houdini, if Shredder, Rybka, Hiarcs or any other commercial engine author had written a post like yours I had probably replied in the same way. Is not a post against Houdini, but against a certain way to use a public forum.
Robert, you are not providing some factual information, you are advertising your new bundle with Aquarium: I try to answer you in a serious and respectful (for your intelligence) way, please be so kind to do the same.
Thanks
Marco

I am not sure what the charter says about Roberts post. I am very interested in Houdini. Houdini is a big part of computer chess in 2011.
There are off topic posts that are allowed here often. It seems to me that Roberts post is on topic. I for one am very interested in the latest computer chess programs and hardware, Houdini is a big part of that.

kgburcham

[Arpad Rusz]

Nalimov EGTB support? Great! This is I was waiting for.
So it has some "commercial relevance".

[JuLieN]

My opinion is that commercial authors should be allowed to inform about the release of their products. I'd myself like to hear about new products too.

In the other hand, this means that a good balance should be found between blatant advertising and an informative post. A few rules should be followed:

- respecting some loyalty regarding ChessUSA's business (don't "inform" about competing sellers that could hurt Talkchess' host's business).
- respecting the forum's readers by refraining yourself from using too emphasized lines (like: "this is the best product in the world" ...)
- clearly mentioning the price of the product in the post.

My two cents.