Current versions. Any real, repeat real, reason(s) to prefer one over the other? Talking Vista or EX7.
Thanks!
Call this a “real reason” or not, as you prefer, but I recently downloaded the demos of WinTD and SwissSys in order to choose between them myself, and I felt like SwissSys’s user interface made intuitive sense to me, and WinTD’s didn’t. Hardly objective, let alone measurable, I know, but there it is. For me, it comes down to, in which one will it be easier for me to do exactly what I want to do in a tournament situation when there are nine other people in line behind the person I’m dealing with? In that circumstance, I don’t want to be trying to figure out what the programmer had in mind when he designed the interface – I want the programmer to have already figured out what I would have in mind.
Unless there are some problems with Win 7 (I haven’t heard of any, but of course that’s not dispositive), it’s mostly a matter of taste. SwissSys gives you more control over the output (you can set font and point size for each field individually), which is important to me since I put a lot of time into customizing my wallcharts and pairings. WinTD has better support for team events, and there is some anecdotal evidence that it makes slightly better pairings in a few hard cases. I also think SwissSys is a little faster in processing entries, but that’s only going to matter if you’re running tournaments with a big door entry.
I did the same and have to agree with you. Kind of like Chessbase putting a new GUI in Fritz 12 now that Rybka Aquarium is out there. Thanks, to you and John below.
Only used WinTD ‘live’, but have demo used both.
Specifically to Vista… Last tournament I ran computers at, WinTD on Vista froze up tighter than a Wisconsin winter. (Actually, it seemed like the USB system locked the program, as I lost external keyboard and mouse. Can’t remember if I actually got an OS shutdown/restart or if I had to cold shutdown.) But our process involves saving to both hard drive and USB after pairing and post-score updating end of round. (Because prior TDs had learned the hard way you need to do both with WinTD.)
And the program freeze isn’t Vista-specific or machine specific, as I’ve had another computer on XP where WinTD flat crashed.
WinTD did run on other laptops on Win7 quite well at the same event I was using it on Vista. (In fact, that Vista crash was the only problem we had as far as program running.) I expect 7 will run it at least as well as XP/Vista.
But I can’t tell you, other than by hearsay anecdotes, that SwissSys seems more stable.
I much prefer WinTD to SwissSys. But that’s like asking if someone likes ChessBase better than Chess Assistant - it’s all good. If you know how to use them and their foibles.
Thanks. There’s another program that I have used, Vega, from Italy. It’s free to use up to 30 players but requires a fee to use for more than that with Windows. It’s an OK program for as much as I needed it for.
Many TDs seem to feel that WinTD does slightly better pairings than SwisSys and has more features for team-oriented events. (What makes for ‘better pairings’ is a very subjective issue, though.)
I have not heard any reports about how Vega pairings are compared to those programs.
When we did a poll on what pairing programs TDs use, I believe WinTD and SwisSys had identical numbers and 49% of the market share, with Vega having 2%.
Thanks. I’ve heard the same from TDs as to team pairings. I’ve been playing with both demo programs and it seems that Swiss is a bit more user friendly in some respects, at least initially. I suppose WinTD is fine one you become accustomed to using it.
Again, thanks and thanks to all who responded.
I own the full Copies of both. If i’m running a tournament on my own… I prefer Swiss Sys. However, all of the other TD’s in the area use WinTD. So when I am collaborating on a tournament or running a tournament with assistant TD’s who may be using the Computer, I use winTD. Even though I use wintd 75% of the time because most of my tournaments I am working for someone else who provides the computer or collaborating with someone who only use WinTD, I much prefer Swiss Sys and find that pairing changes and other things that one needs to do every now and then that are not automagically done by the program are much easier, quicker, and more intuative in Swiss Sys.
I ran a side by side on WinTD and Swiss Sys at a 150 player scholastic 2 years ago to look at the ‘pairing’ differences that someone had quipped about. First I went into the settings and made sure all the pairing limits were the same on both programs (interpositions and such) and ran the 5 rounds on both computers in different programs. Except for the 5th round all the pairings were identical. In the fifth round in one of the sections there was a 2 3.5 scores that drew in the previous round and 3 people below them. The two programs paired those two games differently from the natural pairings to equalize colors. I don’t recall the exact ratings/limits but do remember checking over the rules and saying both sets of pairings were legal but and I got mixed reviews from people I asked on which set they preferred. I believe I did side with Swiss Sys on that one, but it was split 1/2 one way or the other.
On an interesting note from several years back when I did my Senior TD test. I had finished the test and already sealed the envelope and mailed it off. I entered the pairing problems into WinTD and Swiss Sys to see if I did ok. Both programs agreed with my pairings. Interestingly enough when I received the results back a few weeks later, I missed some points on the pairing problems. I emailed the TD guy at the office at the time, saying thanks for the passing grade but wondering about it. He said I got partial credit for that one because my pairings for the final round were legal but not “best” from the way they interpreted the pairing rules.
I’ll not if the trial versions are still the same way they were, you can use swiss sys completely free for 3 rounds or less with full reporting and options. WinTD you could do unlimited rounds but not save or make USCF reports. I recall doing a 4 round tournament before I purchased swiss Sys and doing first 3 rounds in swiss sys and copying the pariings and scores to pairing cards to pair the 4th round. (o:
Thanks so much for the analysis. My order of preference right now is Swiss Sys, Vega, WinTD. I’ve used Vega in the past with elementary school chess tournaments and it worked just fine. SwissSys seems a bit more friendly and possibly powerful.
I have always prefered the output graphics of Swiss Sys over Win TD. From what I understand,
the pairing ability of both packages is roughly equal. I am not currently a win td director, having
“cut my teeth” on Swiss Sys. But, I have worked many tournaments in which Win TD was used.
Unless Win 7 has a far superior graphics package than previous versions, then i would think
Swiss Sys would be the system to use.
Rob Jones