
|
Dr.
Tom's Independent Software Reviews
presents:
Comparative Reviews
Software
Localization Tools Comparison Chart and General Conclusions
|
|
TRADOS
|
STAR
|
Alchemy
|
Passware
|
schaudin.com
|
TRADOS Corporate 5.5
|
Transit
XV
|
CATALYST
4
|
PASSOLO
3.5
|
RC-WinTrans
6.01
|
Type |
Translation
Memory
|
Translation
Memory
|
Software
Localizer
|
Software
Localizer
|
Software
Localizer
|
Translator
Assistance Tools
|
Spell
Checker |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
through Macro
|
No
|
Thesaurus |
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Glossary
/ Dictionaries |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Terminology
Database |
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
via
TRADOS
|
via
TRADOS
|
MT
Interface |
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
supported
File Types
|
DLL,
EXE |
Yes
with T-Window Collection
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
RC |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
RTF
(Win 95 Help) |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
RTF
(Text) |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
TXT |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
DOC |
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
FrameMaker
and SGML |
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Ventura |
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
HTML,
XML |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Software
Leveraging
|
Fuzzy
Matching |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
through TRADOS
|
Concordance |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
(Replica)
|
Yes
|
Yes
through TRADOS
|
Perfect
Matching |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Help/Doc
Leveraging
|
Fuzzy
Matching |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Concordance |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
(Replica)
|
No
|
No
|
Perfect
Matching |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Paragraph
based |
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Software Engineering & Testing
|
Pseudo
Translate Expert |
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Validate
Expert |
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
General
Variables
|
Protection
Mode |
Dongle
|
Dongle
|
Dongle
|
Dongle
|
License
Key
|
TMX-Import |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
simultaneous
data base access over LAN |
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
?
|
?
|
price
in € (most featured license) |
€
5,450
|
€
1,595
|
€
6,691
|
starting at € 2500
|
€
840
|
price
in US$ (most featured license) |
$4,886
|
$1,430
|
$5,999
|
starting at $2288.5
|
$753
|
system
requirements |
Pentium
II and 64 MB RAM
|
P
133 and 48 MB RAM
|
486
DX2 PC and 16 MB RAM
|
486
PC and 16 MB RAM
|
400
MHz x86 CPU
|
editor |
external
/ internal
|
internal
|
internal
|
internal
|
internal
|
source
and target in tables? |
No
|
Optional
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
display
of concordance |
percentage
|
color
and percentage
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
editable
Metatags? |
yes
|
yes
|
choice
|
|
viewable
Metatags? |
yes
|
yes
|
choice
|
target
preview |
yes
|
no
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
technical
support |
within
72h, competent
|
within
48h, incompetent
|
within
48h, competent
|
within
72h, competent
|
within
48h, competent
|
support
free/costly |
expensive
|
expensive
|
free
|
free
|
free
|
printed
documentation |
good,
includes a tutorial: ++
|
dissatisfactory
without tutorial: 0
|
very
brief: -
|
very
brief: -
|
missing:
--
|
help/pdf
docu |
good,
includes a tutorial: ++
|
dissatisfactory without tutorial: 0
|
very
brief: -
|
brief
but well organized: +
|
very
good: ++
|
learning
the software: classes available? |
yes,
expensive
free online tutorials
|
yes,
expensive
|
$450 per student;
free online tutorials
|
?
|
?
|
package
includes |
CD-ROM,
printed manuals, dongle
|
CD-ROM,
printed manuals, dongle
|
CD-ROM,
printed manuals, dongle
|
CD-ROM,
printed manuals, dongle
|
downloadable
software and documentation
|
software
ergonometry |
+
|
++
|
+
|
+
|
++
|
handling
of large tmx databases |
++
|
-
|
--
|
|
time
to learn |
easy
to learn
|
easy
to learn
|
quite
complicated
|
easy
to learn
|
easy
to learn
|
linking
external dictionaries |
no
- only MultiTerm
|
no
- only TermStar
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
direct
translate from Excel |
Yes
(T-Window Collection)
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
direct
translate from PowerPoint |
Yes
(T-Window Collection)
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Link
to MT |
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
?
|
?
|
Network
Version? |
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
?
|
?
|
TM
management |
good
|
good
|
|
alignment:
file types |
RTF,
DOC, HTML and XML
|
all
supported file types
|
RTF, XML, DLL/EXE/RC
|
No
|
No
|
time
to establish a new project |
fast
|
medium
|
medium
|
fast
|
fast
|
project
wizard? |
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
integration
with speech recognition software |
bad
|
good
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
top
General Conclusions:
As
none of the reviewed software applications proofed to be a total lemon
nor absolute superior to their competitors, there is no simple answer
to the question of which single product would serve you best. In addition,
the value of such tools varies greatly with your individual needs and
circumstances. The first thing you have to answer to yourself is the question,
if you are positive that you will only localize software and never accept
any task to translate other kind of data. If this is the case, you should
consider to buy one of the specialized tools for software localization:
CATALYST, PASSOLO or RC-WinTrans. If in contrary, software localization
is only a small fraction of your translations or the software localization
also requires to translate larger text corpuses such as help files, manuals,
documentation or web sites, you are much better of choosing a general
translation memory solution such as TRADOS or TRANSIT.
Another
variable in the decision process are the preferences of your clients:
If, for instance, you anticipate to translate a lot for one of your clients
and those guys want you to use a certain software, you would be ill-advised
to buy another tool and risk loosing that client. It is a matter of fact
that besides personal likes and dislikes, once you've got used to any
of the reviewed tools they will all increase your productivity and consistency.
In software localization, your clients choices can also determine the
file format you have to handle: binary files such as EXE, DLL or OCX -
or RC files? In the first case, you can use any of the three reviewed
products, whereas PASSOLO can not handle RC files. In contrast to this
- PASSOLO is the only of the three specialized software localizers which
can save back translated EXE files on a Windows 9x or ME system.
If
your decision is not influenced by the choices of your clients, there
are still several other aspects to take into consideration which can be
approached by the following questions: Did it take you years to master
your word processor? - Do you have terrible trouble finding files on your
computer? - and - Do you have a crisis every time you have to install
a program?
If you answered yes to all these questions, you might have problems using
Alchemy CATALYST as a specialized software localizer and STAR Transit
as a general TM solution. You should instead have a look on the demo versions
of PASSOLO or RC-WinTrans and TRADOS, respectively. On the other hand,
if you're a experienced computer user and are fine messing around with
tags in all their glorious forms, you should seriously consider Transit
or Alchemy CATALYST, respectively. Both are by far the most powerful applications
in their group but do not necessarily glitter by being easy to learn or
use.
Finally, I was told, there are people out there, for whom price does matter. In the product group of general TM solutions, TRADOS is about 3 times as expensive as its competitor Transit - a difference which is not in the least bit justified by more capabilities but wrong marketing structures. Similar things on the specialized software localizers: Pricing at 6000 US$, Alchemy CATALYST is the most expensive product in this review - that is more than six times the price of its competitor RC-WinTrans and about twice the amount of PASSOLO's Team Edition. Unfortunately, CATALYST's Translator's Edition at 599 US$ is no alternative to the much more costly Localizer or Developer editions at 3500 and 6000 US$ as it lacks the ability to allow for leveraging of previous translations. On the other hand, CATALYST is the superior tool to handle the XML file format in this review. In this aspect, it even exceeds the abilities of the two general TM solutions. In addition, it provides the most elaborated project management of all three software localizers and offers several functions, usually only seen in general TM solutions. However, as PASSOLO and RC-WinTrans offer many of these functions by close integrating with TRADOS, which Freelance version is at US$ 645, I doubt that this high pricing is a good marketing strategy.
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