Re: How to make Emacs popular again.

[Jean Louis]

* Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> [2020-10-01 16:08]:
> > From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
> > Cc: philipk@posteo.net, eduardoochs@gmail.com, spacibba@aol.com,
> >     emacs-devel@gnu.org, dgutov@yandex.ru, jamtlu@gmail.com
> > Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:13:20 -0400
> > 
> >   >    https://hewgill.com/dict/
> > 
> > Unfortunately, it is a "site", meaning a server you have to contact
> > over the internet.
> > 
> > The tendency to involve other people's computers in doing jobs that
> > you could do on your own computer is a fundamental wrong turning in
> > computing practice.  'dict' is an example of this problem.
> > 
> > We need to lead people away from that paradigm, not adapt our
> > activities to fit into it.
> 
> I understand the general issue with using services, but in this case
> the server just sends the description of a word taken from a
> dictionary.  Aren't we a tad too radical, perhaps even extreme, in
> this case?  It's not like the server calculates something that could
> be subverted by a server we don't control.  What harm could be done by
> looking up a word?  And how is it different from the command we have
> that queries an Internet search engine (M-s M-w)?  Or from asking an
> SMTP server to send an email message?

As long as dict database of Wiktionary exists, as I think, by the
license, it should exist, so I have asked the webmaster to tell me
about that.

If the database does not exist, server can go down any time, and users
will be left in rain.

Relying on a server is not good, it is always better that local
dictionaries can be installed, it is cost efficient for a university,
school or any network to rely on their own computers, and not remote
computers.

Dictionary must be made accessible offline, just as paper dictionaries
are.