{"id":302,"date":"2010-03-04T10:14:21","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T08:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hell.pl\/wasaty\/blog\/?p=302"},"modified":"2011-06-04T15:10:21","modified_gmt":"2011-06-04T14:10:21","slug":"a-freelancer-perspective-on-geoworkz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/2010\/03\/04\/a-freelancer-perspective-on-geoworkz\/","title":{"rendered":"A freelancer perspective on the GeoWorkz"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

\"geo\"<\/a>Yesterday I attended a webminar by Lionbridge<\/a> (LIOX) about their new translation tool \u2013 Translation Workspace aka GeoWorkz<\/a> \u2013 which is to replace Logoport in all jobs ordered to freelance translators worldwide.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know anything about Logoport \u2013 it\u2019s a server based TM system, in which multiple translators can work concurrently on the same project, using light client-side applications: a MS Word add-on, XLIFF editor (a good one) and QA tool (also decent), which can be used for LIOX jobs only. Now the idea is to release somewhat improved and more powerful Logoport-based system \u2013 GeoWorkz \u2013 to all. It can be used by LPs and freelancers alike. The main benefits would be the ability to easily share all kinds of assets \u2013 mainly TMs and glossaries. GeoWorkz could be a perfect tool for the small to medium LPs or occasional collaboration of networked freelancers working together on some bigger job \u2013 all thanks to eliminating all the hassle with updating glossaries and TMs, plus the ability to use online review tool. The software includes a comprehensive and flexible asset rights management, assures security and confidentiality, etc.<\/p>\n

However, as usually, the devil is in the details. First of all, it is based on Logoport. Let\u2019s be honest \u2013 I don\u2019t know a single translator who worked with the system and really liked<\/em> it. It\u2019s decent, when working properly, but no frills. One can get over the word counting algorithm with internal matches \u2013 sooner or later this will become a standard. One can get used to, and get around, the unreliable glossary matches display. The main problem is a speed (or lack of it). Logoport never was a speed demon, especially when working on large tagged files, but for the last several months the speed decreased drastically \u2013 at least for the European vendors. LIOX will have to significantly increase servers throughput, or the venture will be doomed from the start. Fortunately, I\u2019ve been told this will be so.<\/p>\n

While, regardless of other factors, I won’t move my business “to the cloud” (security and privacy concerns plus the ability to work off-line), I might consider using the system from time to time for sharing some bigger jobs, with the ability to easily control and coordinate them.<\/p>\n

However, the more pressing problem is the \u201cpay as you go\u201d payment model \u2013 in fact based on a monthly subscription plans, with fee value tied to the monthly number of words. The lowest fee would be 10 Euro (14 USD) with the limit of 5,000 words, and to get the reasonable monthly limit of 80,000 words one would have to pay 50 Euro (70 USD) . Of course providing that all the freelancer\u2019s jobs would be done via GeoWorkz. And they say 3-year TCO is lower than any other TM system. Well, I don\u2019t know what kind of math they’re using but do I know that I can get other top CAT tools for a 6-8 month\u2019s fee equivalent. With no additional costs in the future. Still, a bargain if you want to use some networking features and job sharing – you just pay for one month to get the job done.<\/p>\n

It gets even better if you get a job via GeoWorkz from some client (agency) working with system. The job assigned through system does not count to the word limit of recipient, but to the word limit of the ordering party. So, if you were to use the system only for jobs from LIOX, it would be enough to have no \u201cprivate\u201d word limit. The problem – there\u2019s no such thing.<\/p>\n

In effect, a freelancer will have to pay<\/em> at least the lowest monthly fee just to get jobs from LIOX, since they won\u2019t be using any other tool, and you can\u2019t get a job without the system account. In simple terms, this means that freelancer will have to pay to get a job. Brilliant, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Somehow, I predict a drastic drop of LIOX freelance vendors numbers in June, when the payment system will kick in. Unless they think it over and offer their vendors free accounts (even without the ability for \u201cprivate\u201d jobs).<\/p>\n

If you want to learn more about GeoWorks, visit their website<\/a>, there’s plenty of info there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tweet Yesterday I attended a webminar by Lionbridge (LIOX) about their new translation tool \u2013 Translation Workspace aka GeoWorkz \u2013 which is to replace Logoport in all jobs ordered to freelance translators worldwide.<\/p>

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,5],"tags":[11,15,17,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538,"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wasaty.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}