Global Cat

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I was an RPR court reporter for ten years. Then a legal assistant for 20. Now - um, nothing, unemployed. Because of finances, I need to get started as cheaply as possible.

I downloaded Global Cat student for free.
Can I use it for a while as a working reporter?

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Mary Jo.

Good question.

Bearing in mind that I have only minimally used GlobalCAT, you should be aware that the student version is limited to 50 pages, so if your dep goes over 50 pages, you will have to open another file in GC to get it done.

I think there's also a time limit involved -- wait, here's the info from the FAQ:

49 pages (per session) when doing realtime or traditional CAT.

60 minutes (per session) when doing GlobalMagic or CIC.

10 minutes (per session) when doing audio sync.

The full featured dictionary/global editor is unavailable.

Printouts have a footer printed on the bottom of each page.

Can only translate against two dictionaries at a time.

May not modify the spellchecker dictionary.

May not output Amicus, WordStar, or Raw Format File.

Dictionary is not compressed which makes it larger and slower in the student version.

That said, I would highly recommend that you use GC ONLY to build your dictionary, if need be, via the "Create Dictionary" menu item ... and feed the resulting .rtf dictionary to digitalCAT -- especially since they've begun allowing people to download the latest version for free!

So. Use GC to build your dictionary with the Create Dictionary feature ... then use that dictionary in digitalCAT.

With DC, you can get to work right away, and the only thing you might have to worry about, limitation-wise, is the captioning suite will most likely not work without calling Stenovations, and it will also only work for three months before complaining about contacting Stenovations (I believe they'll want $79 a month until it's paid off if you wish to continue using it).

Good luck ... and hope that helps!

--gdw
-------------------------
"For a Good (steno) Time ...."
http://www.cheapandsleazy.net

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Thank you so much.