If there was a Pleco desktop version, what would you ACTUALLY use it for?

If there was a Pleco desktop version, what features would you ACTUALLY use?

  • Dictionary lookups

    Votes: 55 88.7%
  • OCR

    Votes: 21 33.9%
  • Document reader

    Votes: 41 66.1%
  • Web reader

    Votes: 40 64.5%
  • Flashcards

    Votes: 30 48.4%
  • Handwriting

    Votes: 11 17.7%
  • Stroke order diagrams

    Votes: 11 17.7%
  • Native recordings of words

    Votes: 17 27.4%
  • TTS

    Votes: 13 21.0%
  • Extra fonts

    Votes: 9 14.5%

  • Total voters
    62
If, however, Mac sales are poor enough that I reach the conclusion that Windows is likely to be a money loser for us, crowdfunding would be a way for me to let people prove me wrong on that.
The possibility that not many Windows users would be ready to buy a Mac just to run Pleco's desktop version might contribute to Mac sales being poor enough. (I have no idea how many Pleco users have a Mac, how many have a Windows PC, and how many have both.)
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
The possibility that not many Windows users would be ready to buy a Mac just to run Pleco's desktop version might contribute to Mac sales being poor enough.

Quite possible, yes - honestly I've gotten far fewer emails complaining about the fact that our app doesn't work on M1 Macs than I would have expected (maybe one every other week or so). Though that may also just be that not many people have M1 Macs yet and that many of them may not even know about M1 Macs running iOS apps - not something Apple has drawn that much attention to, given how poor the experience is with most of them.
 

jsonp

Member
I bought MDBG's dictionary for Apple Dictionary. I use it several times a day because it's faster than using my phone while I'm working, but it's lacking. I live in Taiwan and work in an all-Taiwanese company so I think my use case is very specific. I'm planning on getting an M1 Mac this year, also looking forward to it running iOS apps (especially Pleco).
 

LeonardoM

进士
Quite possible, yes - honestly I've gotten far fewer emails complaining about the fact that our app doesn't work on M1 Macs than I would have expected (maybe one every other week or so). Though that may also just be that not many people have M1 Macs yet and that many of them may not even know about M1 Macs running iOS apps - not something Apple has drawn that much attention to, given how poor the experience is with most of them.

I would have complained, cuz I'm a Mac M1 owner myself ;) . But I read how you developers disagree about letting consumers use the app without specific consent from the devs, since the app hasn't been adapted etc etc.
But yeah, can't wait for Pleco 4 and Mac version to be out!
 

jlnr

进士
Writing this from an M1 machine. I didn't send an email because I had read about the licensing issues before the Mac arrived :(

My biggest use case for a Mac app would be adding words to my list of flashcards, and maybe organizing them better. But I guess that would only make sense after the flashcard rewrite. When I still had an iPad, the daily iCloud sync conflicts were driving me crazy; one of the bigger reasons for tossing the tablet and doing everything on my phone.

(Edit: Sorry for the negativity, I'm not blaming Pleco for the fact that iCloud doesn't seem to sync until _after_ I've used the app for a while.)
 

Ria

Member
I often find myself pointing my phone's camera towards my laptop's screen to use Pleco OCR.
Not to be bothered to send the text/image over for a few unknown characters, or it is not convenient because the service does not allow it.
Some websites and services do still not work well on phone.
Having a Pleco on my laptop would be very convenient.
 
I would use the desktop app to read the .txt document where I take notes for all of my Chinese classes. :)

Why not using the document reader on the phone app? I take all my notes on computer as it's easier to type than on a phone, plus the larger screen allows for better text editing/formatting.

For the moment, I re-download the text document on my phone app after every change - that is cumbersome though.
 

eibar04

Member
Imagine Pleco as a web reader and as a pop-up dictionary extension. Pleco is clearly far superior to chrome extensions like Zhongwen or Perapera. I imagine it as a Yomichan but with the synchronization with the app, it would be powerful with its add-ons like Outlier.
 
I know I'm late to the conversation, but I absolutely would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Pleco on Windows. I'm self-teaching, so when I'm studying, there's nothing like being able to sit at a desk with multiple documents open on a larger screen (I have two monitors, lol), copying and pasting easily, typing faster, it's generally far less pfaffing about. (Currently, I use Pleco on Android phone, and IPad.)
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
We're doing Mac first and will consider Windows based on that.

My current plan is to charge for each of those separately, though content purchases like dictionaries / readers should generally carry over - I've been going back and forth about whether or not to make Windows and Mac separate purchases but my current inclination is to do that in the hopes that that will make the Windows version make enough money to be financially sustainable for us.
 

KtChina

Member
We're doing Mac first and will consider Windows based on that.

My current plan is to charge for each of those separately, though content purchases like dictionaries / readers should generally carry over - I've been going back and forth about whether or not to make Windows and Mac separate purchases but my current inclination is to do that in the hopes that that will make the Windows version make enough money to be financially sustainable for us.
Awesome; how's it going? I would seriously PAY for this; I LOVE Pleco. What i'd really love is to be able to add Chinese phrases/words (latest 寻衅滋事; pinyin: xúnxìn zīshì Picking quarrels and provoking trouble), and then have them become flashcards on my screensaver!
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
What i'd really love is to be able to add Chinese phrases/words (latest 寻衅滋事; pinyin: xúnxìn zīshì Picking quarrels and provoking trouble), and then have them become flashcards on my screensaver!
Heh, yeah, we haven't really done anything for "ambient learning" like widgets / screensavers / etc yet and I'm still trying to sort out the best way to approach that.
 

Daniel C

秀才
macOS Sonoma allows you to use iPhone widgets on the desktop. I'm wondering whether this could be a good stopgap before the Mac app is released: little development needed + ability to control Pleco from the desktop. For me personally I just need quick look up from the desktop (typing in a phone or iPad is cumbersome and disrupts my workflow).
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
macOS Sonoma allows you to use iPhone widgets on the desktop. I'm wondering whether this could be a good stopgap before the Mac app is released: little development needed + ability to control Pleco from the desktop. For me personally I just need quick look up from the desktop (typing in a phone or iPad is cumbersome and disrupts my workflow).
Actually quite a lot of development, and they don't seem to support text input well, so not really useful yet unfortunately.
 
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