/offtopic - smart pen?
Whether there is enough demand for a PC port or not could easily be solved by running a kickstarter like campaign. However, it would likely be a major rewrite, and then there are the issues with the dictionary licensing.
And no, I don't see the young'uns switching from their mobile devices any time soon. While I like my desktop and multi-monitor setup, I am much happier using the mobile version for my day to day stuff.
I suppose, I mean I understand your points, but it wold not be hard. I have a double BA in Computer Eng/ and electrical engineering and know some coding. Most of my friends are programmers, and I been around this field a while and have a few websites myself and such. Certain aspects of Pleco would be difficult but also not practical to integrate into the PC, but much of the app would be practical, and way easier then building the phone app. I do not understand licensing, but don't see this a problem whatsoever. I mean, PC is an open source format. lol. Phones on the other hand are a different story.
It would cost a fraction, and take less human resources to develop, and for me, because of the type of business I am in, Well I would go crazy looking at a tiny phone screen all day, and find laptops and ipads nearly impossible to to work with regarding Photoshop, blogging, web building, and strains the eyes watching programs.
Smart pens: Yes, they are awesome. I go to Shenzhen University to study Chinese and pack light. I take a 3.5 hour Chinese course there, 5 days a week and digitized all my books to my ipad, and take notes using my smart pen. The pen also has ink ability, and links to your cloud, so you can in theory, just bring your University book, a sheet of scrap paper, and take notes all day while everything you write gets uploaded to you i cloud/PC at home. Its wonderful for Chinese study, because pen-
to-paper writing has shown to be the fasts way to remember. I do not know the science behind it, but all studies on it are conclusive. Even at school, our class requires it. If you only use flash cards, and maybe skritter, you are missing out. Skritter though, is wonderful, but its such a limited setting, and again, your looking at a small phone, one little thing and writing characters over and over again. It drives you crazy after a while. I revert to skritter only when i'm board. Am mentioning skritter because it sort of similar to writing and helps you remember with (for lack of a better word) muscle memory. The smart pen also has the ability to record the lecture, and because of its size, the battery last all day long, and can take pictures, some even have projectors on them, but its sort of goofy to me. Also, the smart pens save paper. The pens are about $300 to $400 bucks though.
Another reason Pleco would be awesome on the PC is because you can expand onto other ideas not possible with a smart phone. One idea it to have printable flashcards. Not hard for the company to do this. I for one love actual flash cards. My daughter is here with me, she is 18 and taking Chinese business here, so we mess with flashcards often. I created a few decks, and its wonderful because they are business card sized, and think like a business card, so you can grab a set of 50 cards, run though them as fast as you can and time yourself also. So a few sets that I know really well, I can flash though 50 cards in under a minute and read them off, it is a fantastic way to study, to change things up. Whats frustrating to me is the fact that you simply cannot find printable flash cards that are worth a damn, so I am forced to create my own. Pleco should have this ability 100% should, its what they do man!!! Also, like when I am learning new cards. I will take a deck of 50 new flash cards that I made, but print the meaning and pinyin on the other side, then print two decks out. Then you can spread out all 50 new cards out character side facing up, and then spread out the other 50 Pinyin side up with a short definition and play memory.
Another Idea: I like to play World of Warcraft sometimes, and play the Chinese version to help me learn. Its forces me to type in Chinese a lot, and to read, but it sure would be wonderful to have the ability to use the pleco's screen reader in this way. Also. Most websites are designed for larger screens, so when you surf, you see all the content in its fullest form. Even "ChinesePod" is designed this way. It's nearly impossible to watch there videos with a phone unless you change the phone settings to PC view, but then you can hardly see the buttons. Studying with ChinesePod is definitely better on the PC, and having pleco next to it would be fantastic since ChinesePod integrates with Pleco.
Also, as it is I must read Chinese documents often. I like Pleco for then, but never use it because I need to print, mail, and sign, you cant do that with a phone, so rather then go back and forth from PC to phone, would be awesome to have it right here. For now, I am forced to use google and Bing document translators.
and another idea a little out but not to far away: you could use the Pleco screen reader to translate closed captions for live Chinese broadcasts such as news, and TV. You cant really do that with smart phones, not enough power, and two small.
