How to get a trial version of SDL Trados
Thread poster: Anne-Laure Schneider
Anne-Laure Schneider
Anne-Laure Schneider  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 11:34
English to French
Jan 16, 2010

Hello,

I have seen that a lot of job offers require some experience of SDL Trados. I have also seen its price, and before I consider buying it, I would appreciate if I could use it to see how it works and if it would really be a good investment. I have been on translationzone.com, but I have only found a demo that explains the functionalities of the software, but you cannot use it yourself.

Do you know if there is a demo version (for example of 30 days) I could downloa
... See more
Hello,

I have seen that a lot of job offers require some experience of SDL Trados. I have also seen its price, and before I consider buying it, I would appreciate if I could use it to see how it works and if it would really be a good investment. I have been on translationzone.com, but I have only found a demo that explains the functionalities of the software, but you cannot use it yourself.

Do you know if there is a demo version (for example of 30 days) I could download, even if it is an older version of SDL Trados ?

Thank you very much for your help.
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Maya Gorgoshidze
Maya Gorgoshidze  Identity Verified
Georgia
Local time: 14:34
Member (2004)
English to Georgian
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
Hi Anne-Laure, Jan 16, 2010

You can download a trial version of SDL Trados at:

http://www.translationzone.com/en/downloads/demodownloads

Kind regards,
Maya


 
Anne-Laure Schneider
Anne-Laure Schneider  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 11:34
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Only found demos, not trials Jan 16, 2010

I am sorry, but the only things I have found on this page are presentations of the functions of SDL Trados, which is interesting, but I would like to be able to use it for a while, on a real text. I am looking for a free trial of at least a part of the software. Maybe I haven't looked enough, but I don't find it on the website.

 
Grzegorz Gryc
Grzegorz Gryc  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:34
French to Polish
+ ...
Huh... Jan 16, 2010

Maya Gorgoshidze wrote:

You can download a trial version of SDL Trados at:

http://www.translationzone.com/en/downloads/demodownloads


False.
Oficially, the Trados trial version don't exist starting from 2007.

Cheers
GG

[Edited at 2010-01-16 22:56 GMT]


 
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:34
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
Contact the reseller Jan 16, 2010

and ask for a demo - AFAIK only they can provide you such.
From what I know there is no trial version of SDL software available now.


 
Kevin Lossner
Kevin Lossner  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:34
German to English
+ ...
What are they afraid of? Jan 16, 2010

For some time now, SDL Trados has been strictly "buy before you try" whereas any significant alternatives that I am aware of openly offer real trial versions with full (or at least decent limited) functionality.

I've wondered about the reasons for this, and despite the slightly "mean" suggestion in the title of this post, I have no idea what the people there are thinking. If the idea is that the product is too complex to simply turn users loose on it for testing without extensive t
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For some time now, SDL Trados has been strictly "buy before you try" whereas any significant alternatives that I am aware of openly offer real trial versions with full (or at least decent limited) functionality.

I've wondered about the reasons for this, and despite the slightly "mean" suggestion in the title of this post, I have no idea what the people there are thinking. If the idea is that the product is too complex to simply turn users loose on it for testing without extensive training, etc. then that alone would make me wonder about whether it is a good choice for most people.

Despite all the fiascos of summer 2009 and the Studio 2009 release, I think there probably has been progress, and I think this policy ought to be reconsidered. In the coming months I hope to take a much closer look at the current product and test its interoperability with other tools and well as general usability. I'll approach it with an open mind. Or try at least. There are advantages in certain segments which I do not believe SDL can overcome, and I would not be surprised if some insiders agree with that assessment. In the end, though, all I really care about is users being able to choose the tool that fits their needs best - no matter the source - and LSPs being freed from feeling that they have to dictate platforms.
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Maya Gorgoshidze
Maya Gorgoshidze  Identity Verified
Georgia
Local time: 14:34
Member (2004)
English to Georgian
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
Hi all, Jan 17, 2010

I also browsed http://www.proz.com/sdltrados and
http://www.sdl.com/en/sites/sdl-trados-solutions/sdl-trados-resources.asp
and couldn’t find a trial version there. Maybe it will be available some day later?

Regards,
Maya


 
Katarina Delic
Katarina Delic  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:34
Member (2008)
English to Serbian
+ ...
Why such a high price? Jan 17, 2010

I'd like to know what justifies such a high price of Trados?

As far I'm concerned, Trados is the only CAT tool for which I had to thoroughly read the tutorial before being able to use it. With Wordfast and Dejavu for example, if you are generally good at using computers and have at least some knowledge of CAT tools and how they work, you can use it straight away. Trados is too complicated to begin with, IMO. I guess that's why there are so many webinars and stuff offered for Trados
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I'd like to know what justifies such a high price of Trados?

As far I'm concerned, Trados is the only CAT tool for which I had to thoroughly read the tutorial before being able to use it. With Wordfast and Dejavu for example, if you are generally good at using computers and have at least some knowledge of CAT tools and how they work, you can use it straight away. Trados is too complicated to begin with, IMO. I guess that's why there are so many webinars and stuff offered for Trados training.
And there's definitely no excuse for not offering a trial version!!!

[Edited at 2010-01-17 08:59 GMT]
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Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 11:34
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Yes, there is one! Jan 17, 2010

Katarina Delic wrote:
And there's definitely no excuse for not offering a trial version!!!

I think there IS a reason why they do so. Basically, most new users of Trados buy the tool because either A) their main customers request them to do so, and B) because historically CAT tool = Trados. The market has many other options to offer today, and options whose design and approach has been mimmicked in the making of SDL Studio 2009, if you ask me.

If SDL offered a trial version, there is a high chance that users would experience the technical problems and bugs reported here during the last year (still today, very frequently) and would only take a couple of days to decide against purchasing the tool, so it is best not to offer the trial. However, doing so is surely depriving SDL from a lot of sales in a market in which we all try to make informed purchases and other manufacturers offer full-featured no-barriers time-limited trial versions which are almost immediately a pleasure to use.


 
Giuliana Buscaglione
Giuliana Buscaglione  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:34
Member (2001)
German to Italian
+ ...
Price aligned with other CAT tools.. Jan 17, 2010

Hello Katarina,

compared with another couple of CATs, SDL Trados has more or less the same price or is cheaper Apart from the fact that "cheap" or "costly" is a matter of perception (and ROI), all CATs handling (almost) all file formats aren't available for little money - and one specifically doesn't support InDesign standardly, has to be bought extra.

There are other CATs, which have no downloadable demo
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Hello Katarina,

compared with another couple of CATs, SDL Trados has more or less the same price or is cheaper Apart from the fact that "cheap" or "costly" is a matter of perception (and ROI), all CATs handling (almost) all file formats aren't available for little money - and one specifically doesn't support InDesign standardly, has to be bought extra.

There are other CATs, which have no downloadable demo version directly from site (the reseller has to be contacted).

I have no clue why the demo is no longer available (perhaps because SDL 2007 Suite comes along with Studio 2009?), but I'd follow Jerzy's suggestion and contact the local reseller.

Giuliana
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Anne-Laure Schneider
Anne-Laure Schneider  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 11:34
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Jan 17, 2010

for all your answers, I can just hope that during the coming months they will change their minds and offer a trial version.

 
Katarina Delic
Katarina Delic  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:34
Member (2008)
English to Serbian
+ ...
Are they priced the same? Jan 17, 2010

Giuliana Buscaglione wrote:

Hello Katarina,

compared with another couple of CATs, SDL Trados has more or less the same price or is cheaper Apart from the fact that "cheap" or "costly" is a matter of perception (and ROI), all CATs handling (almost) all file formats aren't available for little money - and one specifically doesn't support InDesign standardly, has to be bought extra.

There are other CATs, which have no downloadable demo version directly from site (the reseller has to be contacted).

I have no clue why the demo is no longer available (perhaps because SDL 2007 Suite comes along with Studio 2009?), but I'd follow Jerzy's suggestion and contact the local reseller.

Giuliana


http://www.wordfast.net/index.php?whichpage=buy&lang=engb
http://www.translationzone.com/en/shop/shop_main.asp
As for DejaVu, their standard version costs 367 EUR and the professional one costs 742 EUR. You can say DejaVu and Trados are priced similarly, but IMO the two programs cannot be compared. DejaVu is so much better in every aspect!


 
Giuliana Buscaglione
Giuliana Buscaglione  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:34
Member (2001)
German to Italian
+ ...
No, that's a personal opinion and perception, no fact Jan 17, 2010

Hello Katarina,

Katarina Delic wrote:

You can say DejaVu and Trados are priced similarly, but IMO the two programs cannot be compared. DejaVu is so much better in every aspect!


That's no fact, but a personal opinion. It's the much better in your opinion. I could say exactly the opposite: it's much worse in handling than SDL Trados. Still, a very personal opinion, that's why I refrained from mentioning any other CAT (and of course, I hadn't WF in mind). No CAT tool is perfect, I use many and each has its best quality, function and option I simply miss in the other ones, but one can't have everything;-). Plus, each translator has his/her favorite tool.

I ought to ask you on which *factual* base (no personal opinion) DV is better, but we'd go off-topic, so let's drop it here. The topic is where to find a demo/trial version.

Giuliana

[Edited at 2010-01-17 14:10 GMT]


 
Kevin Lossner
Kevin Lossner  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:34
German to English
+ ...
Whatever the reasons, it's time to change Jan 17, 2010

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
If SDL offered a trial version, there is a high chance that users would experience the technical problems and bugs reported here during the last year (still today, very frequently) and would only take a couple of days to decide against purchasing the tool, so it is best not to offer the trial. However, doing so is surely depriving SDL from a lot of sales in a market in which we all try to make informed purchases and other manufacturers offer full-featured no-barriers time-limited trial versions which are almost immediately a pleasure to use.


This policy of no demo has been in place for a while Tomás. I don't remember exactly when it started, but the last version of "Trados Classic" (8.3) didn't have a demo available. And I think in the previous version there was some sort of shell game with the URLs.

I won't try to second-guess SDL's reason for not offering the demo, but I do consider it bad, user-unfriendly policy. I can certainly believe that with the older version, they were afraid that the product would look bad and confuse users who had not gone through thorough indoctrination, but the current version is similar enough in structure to the good competition that I wouldn't expect it to be received as badly as earlier versions would have been. Perhaps now that many of the technical issues at release time are said to be sorted out it would be a good time to change the policy and offer a demo. I think all the vendors (not just SDL) owe it to interested persons and companies to offer some sort of trial, not just canned demos.


 


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How to get a trial version of SDL Trados







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