Paragon Software Releases Unabridged Merriam Webster Dictionary

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productType=2&productId=172087' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/...roductId=172087</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The famous Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary, found in every school and most of home libraries, provides with the most extensive coverage of American English. This authoritative dictionary contains 476,000 entries, 700,000 definitions and numerous illustrations, etymologies, synonyms, etc. In addition to quickly looking up a word and reading its definition, the user can listen to a word’s pronunciation and find etymologies describing its origins."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hisham-20061206-merriam-webster_collegiate_5.gif" /><br /><br />Whew! Shades of Wikipedia here. Paragon Software, best known for its Slovoed line of bilingual dictionaries, has released an unabridged Slovoed version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for the Windows Mobile and Palm platforms (using the Third New International Edition as the basis). The software has all the latest tools and modules of the Slovoed line, including voice samples to check your pronunciation. The product retails for $59.95 and you can get it through our <a href="http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productType=2&productId=172087">affiliate store</a>. If that sounds a bit much, or you need a bilingual version, Paragon offers <a href="http://pocket-pc-software.penreader.com/Merriam-Webster.html">a number of different versions</a> scaled to your needs and budget, as well as French-English/English-French and Spanish-English/English-Spanish editions.

[Underwater Mike]

I would buy this in a heartbeat -- at half the price or less. But even at $39.95 for the trimmed Collegiate version, it's still waaaaaay too much. I know that a lot of that prolly goes for M-W licensing fees, but you can go to Staples and get a decent electronic dict/thesaurus for $10...

[disconnected]

It's expensive, but I'm still very tempted. I think I'll have to try it and see how it looks on a VGA screen.

[disconnected]

Well, so much for that idea. :cry:

I downloaded the trial and tried to install it. I selected the option of installing it on the SD card, but, as it installed, main memory got lower and lower until it ran out of space and the install quit. I had about 18MB of main memory free, but that's apparently not enough. I asked about it on the Paragon site, and the answer was that it installs the app to main memory, moves it to the SD card, and then cleans up the install files from main memory. They suggested I uninstall some of my stuff from main memory and then reinstall it after installing the dictionary; that's way more trouble than it's worth to me.

[ctmagnus]

You can get around this by running the desktop installer when your device is not connected. The ActiveSync installer process will complain, though. Then navigate to the Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync folder on the desktop and find the cab file(s), and copy it/them to your memory card. You can execute the cabs from there on the device and afaict only minimal ram is consumed during the install, depending on the size of the cab file(s).

[Nurhisham Hussein]

You can execute the cabs from there on the device and afaict only minimal ram is consumed during the install, depending on the size of the cab file(s).

This will only work if you're using a WM5 device, as the installation location is selected on the device itself. If you're on a WM2003SE or older device, you'll need something like CabInstl (http://s-k-tools.com/index.html?m_util.html).

[disconnected]

Thanks guys. I do have cabinstl so I'll try it when I get home.

[disconnected]

Foiled again -- this is one stubborn app. :evil:

Unlike most apps that continue with the install and then tell you it will be completed the next time you synch, this one stops immediately and won't do anything if the PPC isn't connected. If the PPC is connected, it immediately starts copying the install files directly to the PPC until it runs out of space.

I opened the downloaded exe file with Winzip and it shows two cab files, along with a bunch of other stuff, but it won't extract the cab files -- says they are continued somewhere else.

Oh well, I guess I don't really need another dictionary; it's not like I don't have three already. :lol: