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Kombilo vs. Master Go
    Keywords: Software

I recently saw a demonstration of MasterGo, and it is really neat (Chuck Robbins actually claims that MasterGo has features that Kombilo "would never dream of"). Now, since the asking price of MasterGo is twice that of GoGoD + Kombilo, I think it would be helpful if people who have used both systems compared them here.

Differences that come to mind (just from hearsay): 1) MasterGo runs only on Windows (or an emulator such as virtual PC or Wine) while Kombilo is Python-based and open-source, and hence quite portable; 2) MasterGo uses a proprietary format for pattern matching while Kombilo uses a non-proprietary format (does this make it easier to import the GoGoD database into the MasterGo engine than to export the MasterGo database to SGF format?); 3) GoGoD has additional material, while MasterGo claims to have a search engine with more features; 4) and so on... - Migeru

Please be careful if you respond. Kombilo is a **free** program and so should not really be compared to anything commercial. It is also independent of GoGoD. Furthermore, MasterGo is a database only (I believe - I have not seen it). GoGoD is also a database (almost 25,000 games now) but is mainly an encyclopaedia. So again comparison would be between apples and pears. And don't leave BiGO? out of the frame. John F.

MasterGo is both a database and a pattern matching program. I understand that GoGoD recently started shipping with Kombilo, but even if it didn't the combination of GoGoD + Kombilo is functionally equivalent to MasterGo, so I think the comparison is fair. The fact that GoGoD has more games (MasterGo currently has over 21,000) and also contains an encyclopaedia may be an additional reason to prefer it to MasterGo or not. I don't know anything about BiGO?, so maybe the three can be compared. - Migeru

I beg to differ. Kombilo and MasterGo both try to satisfy some of the same "needs" of go players. The commercial software vs Open Source software issue is a separate matter. [ext] Apache, [ext] mySQL and [ext] FreeBSD are all Open Source systems that compete very well with commercial software without regard to the price. For several years, Microsoft ran [ext] Hotmail on FreeBSD and Solaris. Microsoft repeatedly attempted to switch from FreeBSD to one of its own products. Succeeding only after several failures. The backend may still be Solaris. [ext] Yahoo! runs on FreeBSD from its inception to this day. Open Source Software are come of age. Comparisons to commercial software are appropriate indeed. Velobici

When GoGoD started shipping with Kombilo it was obviosly a win-win situation for both products, and that's just an example of how free software can work in a partnership with a proprietary or commercial product. Now, the fact that there is a fully commercial alternative (MasterGo apparently uses its own proprietary database format) will just make the whole situation more interesting. This is partly why we need a list of features of both programs put together impartially. - Migeru

I don't have MasterGo either, but as far as I could see (from their description and the demo), MasterGo is just two thing: faster, because it's completely native code, and nicer graphics. Just a comment: Migeru, you said at the beginning, Kombilo searches the SGF-Files. That's wrong, but Kombilo creates it's database from SGF-Files - a search only in raw SGF would last forever. - gimpf

MasterGo stores its data in a proprietary format. One can add games to the set shipped with MasterGo. The MasterGo game database is compiled by purchasing Go books in Japan, China and Korea; copying game records from those books into the MasterGo game database. The makers of MasterGo regard this as a legitimate activity. (See kifu copyright discussion.) However, extracting games from the is regarded by the makers of MasterGo as a copyright violation. This is interesting. Copying by computer (from MasterGo or GoGoD) is regarded as a copyright violation. Velobici - edit Charles Matthews



This is a copy of the living page "Kombilo vs. Master Go" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.