BEC.HEFFRON@USC-ECL.ARPA.UUCP (02/10/87)
We ordered the $20 MICE system. I haven't used it yet, as I haven't had time
to really sit down and read and understand the manuals. From the various
features referred to in the Table of Contents of the 3 manuals (yes, 3. User
Reference, Technical Reference, and Graphic System User Manual (total: approx
140 pgs) it looks very impressive. The knowledge representation appears to be
primarily Semantic Net based, and there is support for graphically perusing
the network and building custom graphic objects for use with the system.
HOWEVER, after reading some of the User Reference manual, it quickly begins to
look like "you get what you pay for". E.g. the definitions of FORWARD
CHAINING and BACKWARD CHAINING in the User Reference are *REVERSED* (from what
I understand them to be):
"In general, facts make up evidence; in the process of determining the
validity of a fact, further evidence may be required. This propagation of
the thought process continues until a fundamental fact is encountered
which requires no further evidence. This fundamental fact is called an
ATOMIC FACT. And, this thought process is called FORWARD CHAINING.
Forward chaining is often used by human experts to validate assumptions.
On the other hand, if a given fact is being used to support the validity
of more than one fact, validating the other fact will often cause the
human expert to consider the other alternatives which it supports. This
thought process is called BACKWARD CHAINING."
Also, it becomes clear from the included price list that this is really only
designed to be a DEMO system. The KB is limited to 12K. For versions that
support larger KB's the price goes WAY up (e.g. 20K is $200, 100K is $1750,
1M is $9000). I also recently received a letter asking if I wanted to
subscribe to the monthly users newsletter and/or program updates (at $60/year
for the newsletter, $80/year for the updates, or $120/year for both).
For $20 (without the support) it will probably be OK for simple
prototypes.
Matt Heffron BEC.HEFFRON@USC-ECL.ARPA
Standard Disclaimer about these being my opinions, not those of my employer.
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