PPC Demo Version Updated

[mikelove]

Thanks to our new font license with ZhongYi, we've been able to update the installer for the Pocket PC demo version to use the same font files as the paid version, so for reinstall / re-downloading purposes there's no longer any difference between the two. Which should make installing our software a good bit easier. The actual PPC application hasn't changed, just the font file.

The new font we're using under this new license is actually a minor improvement over the old ones; it looks the same and contains the same character set as our old SimSun font, but is about 2 MB smaller. So if you're using the full (non-Minimal) version of SimSun and want to save yourself 2 MB of internal memory space, uninstall "PlecoDict SimSun Font," download the new installer from our website and install the "Song Font" item listed in there.

One other tiny update: we've now removed the pricing for the "Complete" version from the 2.0 preview page, because we've realized that calling something "Complete" which due to licensing restrictions doesn't actually incorporate all of our dictionaries is likely to make a lot of people angry at us. (and the whole wink-wink discount on the one missing dictionary might have gotten us into trouble) So it'll probably just be the Lite/Basic/Professional/Linguist bundles in 2.0, though you will likely be able to purchase add-on dictionaries at an extra discount (e.g. $20 instead of $30 for the Oxford) by checking a box on the order form when purchasing a new PlecoDict bundle.

Check back later this week for a posting on the now-finalized design for the Pleco 2.0 flashcard system; fans of SuperMemo-style memory optimization will be very happy indeed

 

[Shadowdh]

Mike you tease... stop it right now... any ideas on when 2.0 will be out.... in any form... you are the master of anticipation my friend...

 

[daniu]

seriously ... I don't know any company which is closer to the anticipated dates than Plecodict concerning new Software versions. There are always delays - usually way more than in this case here ...

 

[sfrrr]

I know a couple. But more to the point, although I hate waiting for PD upgrades and I drool and then get angry at all of Mike's teases, He ALWAYS delivers my dream Chinese study program. Once he releases PD version 2, I'll be so happy with the program that, in retrospect, all the waiting will seem worth it.

 

[Shadowdh]

Always worth it Sandra... *wipes drool of keyboard*... :lol:

 

[mikelove]

Thanks, everyone. And apologies for all the teases, seems better to say *something* about what's coming than to keep completely silent and let everyone just wildly speculate on what we're working on for Pleco 2.0.

At the moment we're actually still waiting on a contractor to deliver an important component which was supposed to be finished quite a while ago; doesn't actually push our schedule back, since we have lots of other stuff to work on while we wait for it, but given how long it's taken, even if everything else was perfectly on time we still wouldn't have a finished (or even beta) product yet because we'd still be waiting on this one thing.

But no more release date speculation from me, the next time I talk about dates with regard to 2.0 the word "today" will probably factor in to it.

 

[sfrrr]

Oh, I hate that. You go away for a couple of days, come back and it turns out that Mike Love posted the new release the minute you turned off your computer. I'm going to have to write a script to alert me via SMS or something. If I can figure out how.

Sandra

 

[hairyleprechaun]

I agree with Sfrrr. I would rather be teased to death with anticipation but at least have some updates of what's going on, than not know at all and be left in the dark.

 

[sfrrr]

So, Mike. Has your contractor delivered that overdue piece of work yet?

And, I would like some general warning. I travel a lot and I'd like to know when I can wait and log on once in a while and when I have to log on every other minute. In some of the places I go, it's not always easy to find a broadband connection.

Sandra

 

[mikelove]

'fraid not, though it's certainly getting closer to being finished. (but there's still a lot of work to do on our end too)

There may be *some* general warning, since a good rule for software releasing in general is that at whatever point you think you're finished, you should wait another week to make sure you actually are, but I'm a little gun shy about posting a "check back on our site next week" type message since so many of those have been inaccurate in the past.