Dictionary Database Update Frequency?

[lmcjipo]

After trying the limited dictionary of the demo version for PlecoDict on the PalmOS platform for a few weeks and not noticing any problems in usability, I decided to buy it. What I like about PlecoDict (which I didn't see in any competing product for the PalmOS) was the ability to zoom in on (magnify) the characters. With my standard low-res 160x160 PalmOS Treo 600, the standard Chinese characters in competing products as well as your product (without the magnifying feature) wasn't readable. The magnifying feature sold me on your product.

I look forward to using the dictionary in my Mandarin class.

I read through some of the other posts on the forum and in one of the replies, it was mentioned that there are some mistakes in the various dictionary databases and these have been updated either at the source (ABC) or by Pleco. In the forum, you mentioned that you didn't want to update the actual dictionary databases frequently because you would have to contact the various dictionary maintainers and ask them for their data.

My questions deal with the update frequency of the various dictionary databases. How often do you actually update the various dictionary databases? Are these done at a certain frequency/interval or are these only done when you release a minor/major version change to PlecoDict? If you update the various dictionaries at a semi regular interval which doesn't correspond to a minor/major version change to PlecoDict, how do users get the updated version of the various dictionary databases? How do users know which dictionary database version/revision they are actually using?



Thanks,



Jim

 

[mikelove]

Thanks for buying our software! The magnify feature seems to be extremely popular, yes - it's even won us some converts from SuperMemo for our flashcard system (which also uses magnification).

There are actually several problems with updating the dictionary databases. One of them is indeed the dictionary data; with some dictionaries we aren't even entitled to updated versions unless we sign an amendment to our license agreement, and even when that's not the case the significant updates generally only happen right before a major new print edition. Any other updates would come from our end and would mainly be to correct errors in our conversion of the databases. (we were all set to do one of those with the NWP dictionary, but ran into some issues with a contractor; we're still hoping to do that at some point in '06 though)

Another issue is flashcards; flashcard references in the current version of PlecoDict are tied to a specific dictionary data file, and if entries are added/removed or rearranged those references will no longer work. This should be corrected in the next major update to PlecoDict (no timeframe for that as yet), at which point database updates may become a bit more frequent.

Of the four free databases we offer, CEDICT and Adso are the only ones that are updated regularly, and the main reason we haven't been updating those data files is th flashcard issue. So the conversions of those databases are almost a year old now. We have, however, just prepared a new conversion of CEDICT, and are polishing up the latest version of Adso too, so updates to those databases should be out within a week or two. We haven't yet managed to fully automate the process of converting dictionaries, so it still takes a fair amount of work on our end to get a free database update out, which is another reason why we don't update CEDICT/Adso more frequently.

So basically, there's no regular update schedule for the dictionary database updates but it generally doesn't happen more than once a year. We post a notice about it on the main page when it does happen, and it usually also gets mentioned in our next announcement e-mail. Any updates can be downloaded from our website. There's not currently any mechanism in PlecoDict to check database versions (didn't seem worth the bother since we update them so rarely) but we'll probably be adding one of those in a future software release - for right now your best bet would be to check the file modification date.

 

[lmcjipo]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I commend you on your excellent work on this product. The magnifier feature is a great feature and was the major reason I was sold on your product when I tried out the demo on my Treo 600. The other things that I liked about your program was that it could almost entirely be run from my SD card so it had a very small footprint. What I want to do is get a bigger SD memory card and use the 96 pixel font. I found PlecoDict to be very good which is why I opted to buy the Complete Bundle.

I noticed on your homepage (December 20, 2005 Announcements) underneath the major announcement of the PocketPC v1.0 version being released that v1.0.3 of PlecoDict for the PalmOS is scheduled to be released sometime in January.

Any news that you can divulge on what we can expect besides the inclusion of the handwriting recognition engine for v1.0.3? :wink:



/Jim

 

[mikelove]

You're very welcome.

About the only thing happening in 1.0.3 (aside from the handwriting change) is bug fixes: the TX fix I just posted along with a number of others (some of which we discovered while working on the various Pocket PC releases). Major new features are going to have to wait for a later update.

 

[Anonymous]

A related question, what is the policy on paying for updates? I've read many pages and seem to have missed it. I'm considering spending a bunch of my hard-earned RMB on this, but I'm very tempted by some features that have been mentioned for future releases, and the possibility of dictionary updates makes me wonder.

 

[Shadowdh]

If I may answer the last part... I have asked the same question and if I understand correctly minor updates and the like are free but if it involves new licensing then a small fee may have to be paid... but I can totally vouch for this product, I tried the demo for a couple of days and then bought the complete version, and it just totally kicks rear... its been on constantly the last few days helping with character recognition and writing (so totally cool btw) and helped with an exam I have just had... (now to work out how to access the adso bit)... thanks Mike for a great product, I have been recommending it to all at Uni...

 

[mikelove]

Officially (as far as our software license agreement goes), point updates (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc) are free, major-version updates (2.0, 3.0, etc) may or may not be free. Unofficially, in 4+ years of selling Chinese dictionaries we've never yet charged for an update, and we're not planning to change that policy anytime soon. What we prefer to do instead is to give away most of the new stuff for free and charge extra for a few marquee new features; for example, when we released PlecoDict 1.0, we gave away the basic upgrade (with many many improvements to searching, flashcards, fonts, etc) for free, but we charged a fee to upgrade to our new dictionary databases or the super-accurate new Hanwang handwriting recognizer (all of which require us to pay additional royalties). We'll likely do the same with 2.0; charge for new dictionaries and probably for a few of the new software features (most likely those that require extra royalty payments, like stroke order diagrams and audio pronunciation) but give away as much of the update as possible for free.

 

[mikelove]

Didn't see Shadowdh's posting there - thanks! (both for the kind words and for the word-of-mouth advertising) The Adso database is pretty easy to install, just download it from http://www.pleco.com/dictaddons.html and install the database file to your Palm's memory card. But there should be a new version of that database released along with the 1.0.3 Palm update, so it might be worth waiting for that (though it should be pretty easy to update to the new version later).

We don't have an exact price in mind for the new features (since we don't even know what the royalties will be yet) but my guess at this point is that the total price for everything but the new dictionaries will be somewhere in the vicinity of $20. The dictionaries will cost significantly more, but once you see the titles I think you'll agree they're well worth the price

 

[Shadowdh]

Mike not a problem, it far surpasses my expectations and it really has become a valuable resource... its so much easier to use on the tube (underground/subway) than a notebook and or flashcards...

Just a quick question about the adso... once installed the PD recognises it automically or do I have to access it manually...?? (sorry for the silly questions but I am fairly pc (and now ppc) illiterate).. cheers mate...

 

[lmcjipo]

Just a quick question about the adso... once installed the PD recognises it automically or do I have to access it manually...?? (sorry for the silly questions but I am fairly pc (and now ppc) illiterate).. cheers mate...

I'm not Mike but when I installed the ADSO free add-in to the SD memory card of my PalmOS Treo 600, my PlecoDict Complete Bundle detected the new dictionary without any problems. The only thing that was (obviously) required was to toggle to the dictionary that I wanted to use.


/Jim

 

[Shadowdh]

Cheers for the info... I will be installing an sd card tomorrow and reinstalling some things so will see how it goes...