Me too... I started both [[w:en:DICT]] as well as [[w:en:Freedict]] (which wasn't mentioned yet in this discussion). I wrote wik2dict, a tool to convert Wiktionary into the DICT format, so I know some of the gory technical details.
This is very important for UW :-)
I downloaded some of the "free dictionaries" on sourceforge.net, but they are in an own special format - they are coded and I cannot "see" the data in clear text format - that's why I myself really did not concentrate too much on this format.
On the other hand there is a programmer I was talking to time ago concerning dictionaries for Palm and Pocket PC - these are widely used by interpreters in particular when they need to work with very specific themes. And one thing was on how to make data available - this is going into the direction java for handhelds (maybe also mobile phones) - but there are still too many compatibility issues.
Nokia is doing stuff in this direction ... I must see if I can find the link with the notes - these could be interesting as well. I mean: we have too many different formats ... that's not good.
I believe THE format for dictionary information is TBX since it is nothing else than XML with fixed tags and this allows for easy data exchange.
As far as I understood we were both talking about the same thing.
I just mentioned DictionaryForMIDs, and most of them are currently still based on Freedict. However, I want to spend some time trying to set up versions with Wiktionaries and Wikipedias...
Hmmm ... also the Italian freedict project (it has a really stange name, sorry I don't remember now) still is based on freedict. I think that it would be good if we could get people/programmers on a way where to meet in the middle - they have the software and we have the data - or better: we can combine the data more easily and it is easier to update when people work the wiki-way.
This woule help you to save some time, users do not need different data formats but just one for several applications etc. Really this would be a dream ... and like always: dreaming it and talking about it very often it becomes true.
I did not know you were in there. Maybe it is really time to talk about single facts - but maybe first offline. Make data easier available is part of what we are thinking about. The more we are and the more constructive are contributions the better we will be and the less effort will be necessary.
Another step is then the data exchangeability with CAT-Tools like OmegaT, but that's a story of its own ... if we start to talk about this here now ... I am just imagining what would happen ;-)
Ciao, Sabine
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