Interview with Anders Kierulf of SmartGo

[gogameguru]

I thought some people might be interested in our (just published) interview with Anders Kierulf.

The actual interview was done shortly after the release of SmartGo Books (for iPhone/iPad), so naturally there's a lot of talk about that. It also touches on computer Go, Android and joggling - which is another of Anders' passions.

Please feel free to leave comments, here or on our article.

[SpongeBob]

Didn't know about SmartGo Books - makes me start to want an iPad.

Did anyone try this on the iPod touch? - I am wondering if the screen is not just too small.

[yawnguy]

Did anyone try this on the iPod touch? - I am wondering if the screen is not just too small.

I did. It's OK. The moving diagrams are neat, and the 19x19 board is legible. You can also pinch zoom in, just one level, but a quarter of the board will then fill the screen, which is ample. Of course there's not as much screen real estate as on an iPad, but it's a lot more portable, and cheaper than an iPad. And I don't have one!

You can try it too, at no cost. If you download the free app, there are 8 sample chapters, one for each of the books in the store. Apart from getting to sample each book, you can get a pretty good idea of how it will look with any book.

Paul

[Fedya]

Of course there's not as much screen real estate as on an iPad, but it's a lot more portable, and cheaper than an iPad.

I think you mean IpOd for one of those above. Or something like that, only with arbitrary letters capitalized. Damn sTeve jObs and the folks at aPple for their idiotic capitalization conventions.

[Kirby]

Of course there's not as much screen real estate as on an iPad, but it's a lot more portable, and cheaper than an iPad.

I think you mean IpOd for one of those above. Or something like that, only with arbitrary letters capitalized. Damn sTeve jObs and the folks at aPple for their idiotic capitalization conventions.

I'm not sure I agree. You should be able to get an iPod touch for cheaper than an iPad. An iPad also has more "screen real estate".

[adoreme]

It's kind of sad that in all that android and apple fever for GoApps the normal desktop user is left behind as it seems that SmartGo books app is Apple only even though i really would like to try it.

[SpongeBob]

Did anyone try this on the iPod touch? - I am wondering if the screen is not just too small.

I did. It's OK. The moving diagrams are neat, and the 19x19 board is legible. You can also pinch zoom in, just one level, but a quarter of the board will then fill the screen, which is ample. Of course there's not as much screen real estate as on an iPad, but it's a lot more portable, and cheaper than an iPad. And I don't have one!

You can try it too, at no cost. If you download the free app, there are 8 sample chapters, one for each of the books in the store. Apart from getting to sample each book, you can get a pretty good idea of how it will look with any book.

Paul

Thanks, Paul!
I purchased volume one of the Go Seigen games by John Fairbairn - excellent! There are lots of diagrams, almost for every move a diagram and so you do not need a separate board (like when you read a printed book) to follow the game.

By the way: the first commented game is actually the first game ever played between two professional 9 dans.

[gogameguru]

It's kind of sad that in all that android and apple fever for GoApps the normal desktop user is left behind as it seems that SmartGo books app is Apple only even though i really would like to try it.

You're right, it is disappointing, and you have to think about things from SmartGo's (Anders Kierulf's) perspective to understand why this has happened.

I can't speak for Anders, but from what I understand (based on what he has said) he released it first on Apple devices because that's where the most promising market is. I'll explain what I mean by 'most promising' below. To the best of my knowledge he would like to port SmartGo Books to other systems, given time and if he could establish the demand for it. Just look at what he said on Go Game Guru when I asked him about Android:

Yes, there’s a chance, but not immediately. Basically, I’m already fully booked with the planned iPhone and iPad work, plus finally getting the Mac version done. I would have to hire somebody to do the Android work, which would be a significant investment of time and money. Before I risk that, I need to see an Android tablet that can compete with the iPad, and some indication that Android users are willing to pay for apps.

Despite what anyone might think about Apple and the iTunes store (and I'm not their biggest fan by a long shot) you have to admit that there are some aspects that would be attractive to a small indie developer. For example:

• Established infrastructure for selling, promoting and distributing software
• Support for an in-app purchase mechanism (for buying individual Go books)
• A user base who have been shown to be willing to spend money on quality software.

In addition to that, Anders seems to be interested in pushing the boundaries and exploring what Go players can do with touch screens. That rules out most technologies except for tablets and phones at the moment.

I think using it on a desktop without a touchscreen would be pretty similar to playing through an sgf with commentary, which you can do already. So you can either play through commented games or buy some real go books and play through them on your real board (or computer). Personally, I have tried SmartGo books and think it's cool, but I'd still rather play through games on my board at home for serious study anyway. Everything has its place.

Finally, not everything can happen at once. He's just one guy writing software and SmartGo Books has only just come out. Give it time and maybe in a few years touchscreen desktops will be common and we'll be playing on Go servers that way... Who knows?

If a lot of people really want to see SmartGo Books on a particular platform, then you need to let SmartGo know about that demand (for example by commenting on the interview so Anders can see), otherwise it's a lot of risk from his perspective.

[Mivo]

I think using it on a desktop without a touchscreen would be pretty similar to playing through an sgf with commentary, which you can do already. So you can either play through commented games or buy some real go books and play through them on your real board (or computer).

You'd still need two "items", the book and the computer/board. My iPad should arrive next week, and it'll take over my mobile Go needs, but so far, and in the past few years, my netbook did a good job at covering this. Not as mobile as a tablet, but small and light enough to use it everywhere, including on the couch and in the bed. Personally, I would have bought SmartGo Books for it, simply because a netbook is more compact and portable than a book combined with a board/computer.

But I understand Anders' reasoning. He is pioneering a new field and the iDevices are a good test bed. iTunes vs. Android Market, or rather: iOS vs. Android, starts to remind me of Windows/MacOS vs. Linux, where you have an excellent, free OS that many commercial software makers don't develop for because they believe that the user base isn't as likely to spend money on software. I always thought it was a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem: if there is no to little commercial software of interest to purchase, it could be mistaken as a lack of willingness to spend money on programs. Linux, like Android, seems to somehow be associated with freedom, which in turn is linked to "all software must be free, no one pays for programs!" In the other ring is Windows/MacOS, and I guess iOS, that's used by the clientèle that's well off or at least willing to happily spend money on software (never mind that they are also a lot more prone to pirate software, at least in case of the Windows user base).

There may be some truth to it, though. In Anders' shoes, I'd approach it the same way. Its good to start somewhere, and the format for the SmartGo Books seems to be open and portable (cf. the discussion in the Computer Go forum section), so client/readers for the Android, and possibly PCs and netbooks, may just be a matter of time. After all, the real attraction is the books, not the software to play them.

[gogameguru]

Sounds like you've found a system that works for you Mivo .

I spend a large part of my day staring at computers at work. Then I come home and work on Go Game Guru... So by the time I get around to studying Go, I prefer to give my eyes a break from the screen. This has the added benefit of helping you wind down, get better sleep, consolidate what you've learned etc... TVs and computer screens have a nasty habit of tricking your brain into thinking it's still daytime, though it probably affects different people to different extents.

I'm getting increasingly off topic though.

The response from Android users so far has been very limited. Maybe there isn't much of a market there after all?

David

[quantumf]

The response from Android users so far has been very limited. Maybe there isn't much of a market there after all?

Not yet. The android tablet space has barely begun. Give it another year. I will never buy an apple device, but I love my android phone, and when the tablet market has matured a bit more I'll get an android tablet.

[gogameguru]

Good point quantumf. For SmartGo Books that is a big consideration.

Still, I would like to see an app like SmartGo Pro on Android and I would happily pay for it. I've tried a few different Go apps on my phone and I'm yet to find one that is anywhere near as good as SmartGo on the iPhone .

I guess, given Anders' comments about SmartGo Books being the easiest to port, it's a sort of chicken and egg situation. So you're probably right that we will have to wait.

Which Go apps do you use on your phone? At the moment I'm using Gobandroid, which is serviceable for downloading and playing through sgf files. If you know of something better, please tell me .

[aurik]

I use AspSgfReader, works reasonably well. It doesn't integrate into my browser, but that's ok.

[k1ndofblue]

I got Smat Go Books for my Ipad the other night and bought the John Fairbairn. I like it quite a bit. I love the digrams and can see how this is going to be the next big thing in Go study.

I have also used SmartGo Pro a ton on my Iphone and I love that too.

One question I have is what is the diffrence between SmartGo Pro and SmartGo Kifu?

Is the Kifu version specifically for the Ipad?

Thanks

PS. I really enjoyeds the articule and I love the Go Game Guru site.

[gogameguru]

One question I have is what is the diffrence between SmartGo Pro and SmartGo Kifu?

Is the Kifu version specifically for the Ipad?

k1ndofblue, you guessed correctly, SmartGo Kifu is for iPad only. I haven't got SmartGo Kifu myself because I don't have an iPad (I have an iPod Touch).

From what I've briefly seen from my friend's version of it, it's designed for reviewing commented games and taking advantage of the iPad's larger screen. It turns the commented games into a sort of book view, which is quite similar to that of SmartGo Books and you can play through the moves in each diagram (again like SmartGo Books). The difference is just that it's using commented game records rather than a 'book'.

I understand that it comes with some commented games when you buy it, but you can also add other commented games which you download from the internet. For example you could add the commented games at Go Game Guru.

Maybe someone who has more experience using it could provide some more information about it?

I'm glad you enjoyed the article on our site .

David