Cobuild
Direct (The Bank of English)
Cost - for a single user: 500 UK pounds
a year, 300 UK pounds for 6 months
Download site / Information web site: http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/direct_info.html
Minimum System requirements: any computer
with an internet connection. Telnet, and FTP software (e.g. fetch)
Corpus: about 50
million words
Hard disk requirements: Telnet and Fetch
require about 1MB of hard disk space
Memory requirements: just enough to
access the internet
Speed: quite Fast
Strong points: very large and broad
corpus, powerful search possibilities
Weak points: expensive
Example output: some
screen shots, more screen shots can
be seen at: http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/collscd.html
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? Yes,
sent via post on registration, about 50 pages
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
There is a help function but it is a little
cumbersome.
More information and
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WordSmith
v3.0
Cost - for a single user: 51.95 UK pounds
(excl VAT), for people not living in the UK 61.04 UK pounds (incl
UK VAT) (the free demo is fully fuctional, but only gives a maximum
20 item output)
Download site / Information web site: http://www.liv.ac.uk/~ms2928/
http://www1.oup.co.uk/elt/catalogu/multimed/4589846/4589846.html
Minimum System requirements: IBM or
compatible PC with 80386 (or faster) microprocessor. Windows
3.1 or newer. Also runs on 'Soft Windows 95'
Corpus: user provided
Hard disk requirements: at least 5MB
of hard disk
Memory requirements: at least 4MB RAM
(8 in Windows 95)
Speed: quick
Strong points: this is not just a concordancer;
it has a number of other useful tools
Weak points: a little tricky to use.
Certainly not recommended for L2 learners unless very computer
literate, and/or advanced learners
Example output: some
screen shots, more screen shots can
be sen at: http://www.liv.ac.uk/~ms2928/wordsmith/screenshots/index.htm
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? Yes.
A very comprehensive 149 page manual which comes as a MS Word
doc, so can be read by Mac machines as well. Worth reading even
if you dn't plan to use the software
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
Yes, very comprehensive and relevant. The
content is much the same as the above manual.
More information and
comments>>>
Mono-Conc
Pro and MonoConc 1.5
Cost - for a single user: windows version
MonoConc 1.5 is $69, MonoConc Pro is $95
Download site / Information web site: http://www.athel.com/mono.html
Minimum System requirements: Windows
3.1 + for MonoConc 1.5, Windows 95 for MonoConc Pro (works on
Soft Windows 95)
Corpus: User provided
Hard disk requirements: about 1 MB of
hard disk space
Memory requirements: 16 MB of RAM recommended
Speed: quite fast
Strong points: MonoConc Pro is simpler
to use that WordSmith and has some powerful search options
Weak points: given its relatively limited
functions it is rather expensive. Although it's possible to download
a demo, you have to get the fully working version sent via snail
mail
Example output: some screen shots
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? yes,
a very useful 32 page booklet
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
yes
More information and
comments>>>
Concordance
Cost - for a single user: $89, or 55
UK pounds
Download site / Information web site: http://www.rjcw.freeserve.co.uk/
Minimum System requirements: Windows
95 + (works on Soft Windows 95)
Corpus: user supplied
Hard disk requirements: about 3 MB or
hard disk space
Speed: a little slow
Strong points: this software will convert
concordances into html files - a 'web concordance'
Weak points: rather slow, and only able
to work on one file at any one time
Example output: some screen shots
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? no
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
yes
More information and
comments>>>
Collins
Cobuild English Collocations on CD-ROM (The Bank of English)
Cost - for a single user: 40 UK pounds
Download site / Information web site: http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/collscd.html
Minimum System requirements: IBM or
compatible PC with 80386 (or faster) microprocessor. Windows
3.1 or newer. Also runs on 'Soft Windows 3.1 and 95'
Corpus: 10,000 headwords. 2,600,000
authentic examples (i.e. concordances) taken from The Bank of
English. Up to 20 collocates per headword
Hard disk requirements: installation
to hard disk of 'CD-ROM driver' requires 521Kb
Memory requirements: minimum 2Mb RAM.
(4Mb recommended)
Speed: fast
Strong points: simple to install and
use. Quick and simple to copy concordances into a word processor.
Weak points: can't search for 'clusters'
of words.
Example output: some screen shots
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? Yes,
a small but informative booklet that comes with the CD-ROM.
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
Yes, but minimal. The limited functions
of this item do not require much assistance.
More information and
comments>>>
Ultra
Find
Cost - for a single user: 39.95 US Dollars
(demo works, but user must register and pay after a month)
Download site / Information web site: http://www.ultradesign.com/
Minimum System requirements: any Macintosh
or PowerPC running system 7.x.x or system 8.x.x (also seems to
work on system 9)
Corpus: User provided
Hard disk requirements: 1 MB of HD
Memory requirements: at least 1 MB
Speed: extremely fast
Strong points: UltraFind was not designed
to be a 'concordancer'. It is first and foremost a search tool
- it is very fast
Weak points: becuase it was not designed
to be a concordancer it has none of the functions that you would
expect even a simple concordancer to have
Example output: some
screen shots
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? Yes.
A short 2 page 'Quick Tour'.
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
Yes. An extensive help option.
More information and
comments>>>
MonoConc
(for Mac)
Cost - for a single user: freeware
Download site / Information web site: Used
to be downloadable form the Rice University web site: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/, see my comments
Minimum System requirements: MAC OS
Corpus: user provided
Hard disk requirements: about
850 Kb on HD
Memory requirements: at least 1 MB
Speed: slow
Strong points: free. Very simple to
use. L2 learners could use this.
Weak points: not good with even moderately
large corpora
Example output: some screen shots
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? yes.
A 6 page MS word document.
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
no
More information and
comments>>>
Conc
1.80
Cost - for a single user: free
Download site / Information web site: http://www.sil.org/computing/conc/
Minimum System requirements: MAC OS,
68K and Power PC versions
Corpus: user provided
Hard disk requirements: about
750 Kb of HD
Memory requirements: at least 2 MB
Speed: quite Fast
Strong points: free. Quite simple to
use, and quite fast. L2 learners could probably use this.
Weak points: not so good with large
corpora since it can only work with texts that fit entirely in
memory. This includes the resulting concordance.
Example output: some
screen shots
Is there a printable / hardcopy manual? yes.
A 74 page PDF document.
Is there online help? - i.e. a help option within the program:
No
More information and
comments>>>