FICS lectures
Maybe any Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) user knows about LectureBot and WesBot. These bots constantly "deliver" chess related lectures using FICS examine mode. There is no much difference between them. Both use same mechanism, both have very high uptime (especially LectureBot, which is running on FICS computer) and both are extremely annoying (the main reason I censor them on FICS). The difference is that WesBot has some additional commands, a something extended lectures repertoire and isn't downlodable. A "lecture" is a simple text file in which there are two types of information: FICS commands and numbers, representing the pause between entering commands to server in seconds.
What is FICS LectureViewer?
Of course it's not convenient to view lectures online. There are many limitations and LectureViewer has to change this. It is able to replay a lecture offline and from version 0.9.0 online as well. You may be wonder do other software for online replaying exist. Yes, of course it does. For offline reproducing you may try iNemesis and WinBot. The last is designed especially for lecture writers. As for playing a lecture on FICS the best choice is surely iNemesis. However, the above works only for Windows users. FICS LectureViewer is written in Java, so we can theoretically say about the application "write once, run everywhere".
Further development
Some people (me including) think that "this kind of didactics is history". Yes, as you maybe know, Free Internet Chess Server was created in 1990s and its examine mode is hardly dedicated for automatic lectures replaying. When the program will be stable enough, I hope to add some extra functionality, not associated with FICS lectures. It will be lectures with sound "accompaniment" and later maybe even video, like in Chessbase products.
