Grex Language Conference

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Grex Language Item 48: Dictionaries
Entered by rcurl on Wed Sep 22 05:56:16 UTC 1993:

There are many different dictionaries: which are better than others;
which are your favorites; what's the future for dictionaries; etc.

6 responses total.

#1 of 6 by rcurl on Wed Sep 22 06:00:28 1993:

I've received an advert for the American Heritage Dictionary III -
a software dictionary. It is supposed to include some 160,000 words,
though I'm told it is weak on etymology. The offer is the dictionary
with "Correct Quotes" thrown in, for $30 (+$5.50 s/h). It takes a
lot of memory, of course. Does anyone have any experience with these
or even *this*? One big advantage is one can search for all words
spelled (for example) ?n?u? (can you think of any use for that??).

#2 of 6 by srw on Wed Sep 22 06:10:33 1993:

Hmmm. I'm interested in that dictionary program.
I have no experience with such programs, but this one sounds good.
I haven't seen it reviewed either. It's very new.
It's a product of Star Press which is WordStar.

Which version did you get that offer for, DOS, Windows, or Mac?

My best offer is $39.95 (+$5.50 s/h) directly from Star Press for the
Mac Version (including 'Correct Quotes'), although I can get it
slightly cheaper w/o the 'Correct Quotes' from software mailorder
places places like MacConnection.

I have called and found it backordered for several weeks, and
I've not actually ordered it yet.

#3 of 6 by rcurl on Wed Sep 22 12:34:34 1993:

The offer is the same for DOS, Windows or Mac. The number is
800-843-2204 (I am not a salesperson for this! I'd like to know how
good it is.)

#4 of 6 by srw on Wed Sep 22 14:59:03 1993:

Me too. I was hoping it would get reviewed in a magazine. (not yet tho)

#5 of 6 by rcurl on Wed Sep 22 22:14:03 1993:

I mentioned its etymology: it was a linguist on an MTS CONFER who was
the only one that seemed to have played with Ver II, and he was the one
that said he couldn't use it because of the lack of extensive origins
info.

#6 of 6 by srw on Thu Sep 23 01:05:56 1993:

I don't know how much that would trouble me. It's definitely a factor
though. However, I think III is a major rewrite of version II.
I don't know whether they have addressed that issue.
The promotional brochure advertises word origins as a feature, but
doesn't say "vastly improved word origins" or the like.

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