A Disturbance in The Force

Jeff Boscole wrote this letter today. Jeff is a former software developer for Atari.

To: AGA President, AGA Regional Representative, AGA Chapter Rep
Cc: AGA Webmaster, Slate & Shell Director(s), eJournal Publisher, etc.

Disturbing findings concerning activity by the AGA. Frank de Groot continues to allege that Ing Foundation money was used in start-up costs for Slate and Shell. No budgetary transparency has been provided which could confirm or deny Frank's allegations.

Meanwhile, the AGA's treatment of Frank de Groot's MoyoGo product has not been commensurate with the significance of that enterprise. I note a "disproportionate bias" by referencing how MoyoGo is being treated by the AGA website. Of the four references, one is neutral and the other three appear to be negative. I ask, "What is the source for characterizing MoyoGo as `controversial' if there has been brought no legal challenge to MoyoGo?" Editorializing in this manner, by the AGA on AGA's website, lacks the aegis of neutrality toward which the AGA ought to strive. This needs to be corrected.

I also note that MoyoGo was referenced as one of the major citations in the article by three Microsoft researchers, the paper "Bayesian Pattern Ranking for Move Prediction in the Game of Go"
by David Stern, Ralf Herbrich, and Thore Graepel, of Cambridge UK, citation #7 of 11 in the bibliographical footnotes. To date, MoyoGo's performance has greatly exceeded efforts by these three Microsoft programmers, and Mr. de Groot's work appears legitimate.

- Jeff Boscole