Many of us will have installed this handy utility, which enables one to check spellings simply by highlighting a word and opening WordWeb.

Today I tried this and a popup appeared asking me to indicate how many long-haul flights I had taken in the past year. Assuming this was simply a survey for which they were being paid, I answered honestly (more than two) and was then told that, because I was contributing to global warming through my profligate flying habits, I could no longer use the free version - although I could, with their blessing, use the paid-for version. Quite how that would help minimise global warming they didn't explain.

Having checked to see that it isn't April 1st today, I wrote to WordWeb to criticise their puerile, misinformed and interfering attitude - although I very much doubt that they will bother to reply to me.

But for those Wordcrafters who wish to continue to use WordWeb, when the popup appears, just lie and tell them you don't fly anywhere.

When it will almost certainly come up with another "you can't use the free version" message.

This sort of thing is extremely common on the web.

Also, and I'm not saying this is the case here, a GENERAL rule of good computer security is to NEVER respond to any pop up forms, be they surveys or anything else. The very least they will do is cause you to receive more pop-ups. The worst case scenarios include installation of viruses and trojans and theft of data, not to mention outright identity theft.

Actually WordWeb did reply - and very promptly. They referred me to the licence here http://wordweb.info/free/licence5.html which I had apparently accepted. I can't recall seeing it but that may be because I upgraded from an earlier version, which didn't have this note.

Of course, this is a complete load of old cobblers, suggesting as it does that only wealthy people fly.

And, quite apart from anything else, it's none of their damn business what others do with their lives.

So the solution is an easy one - just lie when the popup appears and tell them you never fly except at Christmas - and then use an ecologically sound sleigh drawn by reindeer.

I used an earlier version of WordWeb Pro some years ago. I used it occasionally, but found it just as easy to use OneLook online. I didn't bother to transfer it to my current computer, therefore. I've downloaded the free version to give it another go: I don't have any difficulty adhering to the terms and conditions for free use without lying; although they are a little unusual, the authors can put any restrictions they like on their own software.

I see that a single-user licence for the Pro version is US$29 or UK£16, which wouldn't exactly break the bank.

Just to finish this saga: I exchanged several emails with Anthony Lewis, who runs Wordweb from Cambridge (England) and he has obviously been suckered by the anti-flying propaganda so liberally dispensed by the environmentalists.

Although he is entitled to his views, I consider it quite wrong that he should choose to try to covert me to them by a form of blackmail and I have therefore uninstalled his program and will not use it again. It's not a matter of cash it's a matter of principal.

If he wants to support the anti-aviation lobby then he should do so from his own pocket, not mine.

If anyone knows the name of a similarly convenient spellchecking program, maybe they could let me know.

It is (I hope unintentionally) funny that somebody who's all fired up about the evils of one industry should play footsy with another (potentionally evil) one: i.e., the Microsoft OS monopoly; but then one man's mead is another one's fish. Ha, ha! Chortle.

What is WordWeb?

It's a dictionary program you can download. The free version is dependent on your not taking the long-haul air trips that Richard refers to; there is also a paid-for 'Pro' version with more features with no such restrictions. See above posts and http://wordweb.info/

... and it only works on MS Windows.

The great thing about WordWeb is that, once installed, its icon sits quietly on your desktop, interfering with nothing. If you then find a word - anywhere on your screen in any application - that you need to check the spelling of, or maybe need to search for a synonym or some other aspect of that word, then you simply select and copy it and click on the icon. A pop-up appears that tells you if the spelling is correct, the definition and the nearest words. Other things, such as synonyms and antonyms can readily be found using the facilities in the pop-up.

Very quick, very convenient and very cheap. But I damned if I'll be blackmailed into supporting the anti-aviation lobby just because WordWeb's owner has been persuaded by their clever propaganda.

I have a pop-up blocker. Literally, I never get a pop-up. Would that interfere?

No. The pop-up blocker is for your Web browser. It doesn't affect programs installed on your compuer like WordWeb.

To continue the saga: I have had considerable correspondence now with Anthony Lewis and he agrees with me that there are many other contributors to global warming - many of which are of significantly greater importance than is aviation. But he hasn't worked out a simple way to get at them and so attacks those who need to fly.

Rather like most of those who subscribe to the anti-aviation lobby, then.

I would've thought that a world-destroying conspracy such as the Anti-Aviation Lobby could muster more than 177 ghits (link). My googling was not in vain though. I did find this great article on the new John Lennon Airport in Liverpool (link). I was sent surfing shortly after reading this interesting bit on Greenpeace's How [Computer] Companies Line Up (link).

quote:

I would've thought that a world-destroying conspracy such as the Anti-Aviation Lobby could muster more than 177 ghits (link).

That is a situation, not an organisation's name.

That is a situation, not an organisation's name.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.