This last week I had the opportunity to compete, put out the Oz Report, assist with the scoring (after setting up the scoring system and computer), and test my scoring system against the FS scoring system that is being supported by CIVL. This was as much a real world test for my program (it has been used in about half a dozen competitions, and of course, tested there) as it was for the FS program (which has been beta tested in France in 2007). Of course, I was eager to run them side by side to see if there were any differences. And doing this in real time while pilots wanted their scores, and wanted them correct was quite a challenge for me and for Stein-Tore, the FS author who is in Norway (or Sweden).

Stein-Tore and I had many email conversations as we ran into discrepancies and I learned how to run his program. Having two programs looking at the same data (and it was a chore just getting the data (track logs) to match) and comparing them with RACE (another hurtle) was the kind of process you need to stamp out those nasty subtle bugs.

You can find the FS program here: http://ozreport.com/12.033#0

You can find the latest version of my program here: http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=51049#51049

We found a bug in my program which became evident on an unusual day when many pilots who made goal didn't get any speed points. This hasn't seemed to have had much effect on previous competitions scored with my program. We also found a bug in FS that incorrectly allocated the distance points if you didn't make goal, giving you too few. Those bugs have been corrected now and both programs should give almost the same results. I say almost because there are still very subtle differences (like, I think difference earth models). The differences are too minor to worry about now.

FS is an excellent free program (mine is free also, but you need to purchase SeeYou) and very well written. It is fun to use. Check it out.

My SeeYou program is also a hoot and scorekeepers love using it. Both programs require that you have your Garmin USB drivers and USB/serial port drivers up to date.