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USBGF Software Page..ok some rewording..hopefully more accurate

Posted By: Chase
Date: Tuesday, 13 April 2010, at 6:55 p.m.

In Response To: USBGF Software Page..ok some rewording..hopefully more accurate (Jason Lee)

I don't think any of the bots is particularly intuitive. If you sit a newbie down in front of one, they're pretty much going to be lost. What we call intuitive in this context says more about a user's expectations based on experience with other software than it does about the design of the software. The real issue, I think, is not intuitiveness but ease of use -- that loathsome phrase "user friendliness." Each bot (including BGBlitz and even going all the way back to Jellyfish) has things it does well and other areas where it is clumsy (like this sentence).

Personally, while I'm very happy with XG, there are things I do often -- like fiddling with checker positions and match scores to see how they affect decisions -- that I find much easier to do in Gnu. (I only have version 3.2 of Snowie, but I think it does some things better than both Gnu and XG.) I've communicated some of these preferences to Xavier and, for the most part, he's been very receptive to the input. I've had similarly good experiences with Frank Berger regarding BGBlitz. I'm thrilled about this because user support is the most important kind of "user friendliness."

As far as the USBGF goes, perhaps they should steer clear of making official declarations about which products are easier to use. Nor would I recommend simply letting developers decide what is said on the site about their products. If they want to do that, sell them ad space. If the federation wants to get into the business of evaluating and/or recommending specific programs, I'd recommend a formal review section on the site with well-researched comparisons of features and performance. Short of that, I'd just give a brief description of each program and link to the program sites, where users can learn more and download versions they can try for free.

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