DICT

DICT is a dictionary network protocol created by the DICT Development Group. It is described by RFC 2229, published in 1997. Its goal is to surpass the Webster protocol and to allow clients to access more dictionaries during use. Dict servers and clients use TCP port 2628.

Resources for free dictionaries from DICT protocol servers

Dictionaries of English

Bilingual dictionaries

VDM Publishing

VDM Publishing or Omniscriptum Publishing Group is a German publishing group based in Saarbrücken, Germany, with offices in Argentina,Latvia, Mauritius and Moldova. Its book production is based on print on demand technology.

VDM publishing's imprints—Alphascript, Betascript, Fastbook Publishing and Doyen Verlag—specialize in publishing and selling Wikipedia articles in printed form via print on demand, in e-commerce bookstores. Alphascript distributes publications through several on-line book retailers. At least some of the books are printed by Amazon.com. As of November 2010, around 150,000 such titles have been produced. In June 2010, VDM started its own online-bookshop: MoreBooks! Publishing.

VDM's publishing methods have received criticism for the soliciting of manuscripts from thousands of individuals, for providing non-notable authors with the appearance of a peer-reviewed publishing history, for benefiting from the free contributions of online volunteers, and for insufficiently disclosing the free nature of their content. VDM responds that it is a valuable, quality resource, that the company has no problem asking authors for content, that buyers are informed of where information comes from, that books are a convenient form to collect articles about interesting subjects, and that its customers are satisfied with VDM's products. VDM Publishing is designated as non-scientific by the Norwegian Scientific Index.