> >phma > > Where do you get 170 from? There are thousands. There are around 700 >languages > > in PNG alone, which is enough to exhaust all the two-letter codes. > >It was me who introduced this number, this the number of >languages in Word 2000 spellckecker (cca); it will be a while before >our spellchecker supports more than this. Ispell and Pspell don't support 170 languages *yet* but that's largely due to lack of interest on some contributors parts (i.e. if no one takes the time to submit a Ukranian dictionary, then there is no Ukranian spell-checking). Of course, different langauges also can have different rules for spell-checking, but that point is addressed below. I can see this changing in the near future with the move of Linux/BSD into the main-stream. It's not unlikely that someone will get paid by say, RedHat, to create a Pspell dictionary/spell-check-rule because RedHat has a customer with that demand/requirement. And even if not, there's always the *good* chance that someone from the Ukraine might step up and code support for it someday just because he'd like to spell-check his document. What's good about this approach is that a lib like Pspell or Ispell is available for *every* app on the system to use and not tied into the office suite per-se. And with a bit of work, these tools won't be Unix specific any more. (IIRC, of course) only 1 dictionary gets installed by default for MSword. You have to have the CDROM lying around in the office if you want to spell-check any of the other 169 languages, or maybe have to go out and download/buy the dictionary online. With Pspell or Ispell all you have to do is grab the appropriate package online free-of-charge. In conclusion, I think that we're in better shape than we think. Dom always an optimist _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
