Commercial research: your recent decision about paid CAT software מפרסם התגובה: kosuke kajimoto
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Hello everyone,
ProZ support has permitted this inquiry in the technical forums. I represent a small for-profit software business in Japan. This is pre-development commercial research; we have no product or offer to sell. AI helped draft this post, and I am responsible for its content.
If you are an independent translator who chooses and pays for your own CAT software, please consider a brief, voluntary public reply about one actual decision in the past three months:... See more Hello everyone,
ProZ support has permitted this inquiry in the technical forums. I represent a small for-profit software business in Japan. This is pre-development commercial research; we have no product or offer to sell. AI helped draft this post, and I am responsible for its content.
If you are an independent translator who chooses and pays for your own CAT software, please consider a brief, voluntary public reply about one actual decision in the past three months:
1. What did you decide about buying, upgrading or switching paid CAT software, or keeping your setup/buying nothing after comparing paid options?
2. After that decision, what work, if any, still recurs and needs attention? If your existing tools or alternatives handle it well, please say so.
3. Did any remaining work affect your decision to buy, upgrade, keep paying for, or pass on paid software? “No” or “unclear” is equally useful.
Optionally, mention alternatives you actually tried, how often the work occurs, or roughly how long it takes. Please do not post specific amounts, budget limits, personal/contact details, client names, confidential material, files, screenshots or identifying project details. Satisfaction and unresolved problems are considered on the same terms.
This review ends on 23 October 2026 at 23:59 JST. We will analyse at most three eligible, consenting contributions in posting order. The public thread may still receive further replies; we will not add later contributions to this analysis.
On our side, only I will read participants' original replies. Only safely generalised, non-identifying summaries will go to our AI-assisted analyst. Replies retaining rare attributes or identifying combinations will be excluded. To volunteer for this use, please begin your reply with “I agree to the research use described here.” There are no incentives, DMs, external forms or sales follow-up.
Replies are public and may remain in search engines or copies. We cannot delete your forum post or third-party copies. By the end time above, you may ask in this thread to exclude your contribution from our analysis; this does not delete the public post. Thank you. ▲ Collapse
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kosuke kajimoto wrote:
If you are an independent translator who chooses and pays for your own CAT software,
I do not believe developing a new commercial CAT tool is a wise business decision in the current market. There are many free alternatives readily available. As a result, I would not be surprised if CAT software developers are facing significant challenges.
| | | | | Thanks for your perspective on CAT software | Oct 18 |
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I appreciate you raising the point about free CAT tools and the challenges of introducing new commercial alternatives.
Just to clarify, this research isn't about proposing another general-purpose CAT tool. I'm interested in understanding real software decisions and whether existing solutions leave any recurring work unresolved. Experiences where current tools work well are equally valuable.
Thanks again for taking the time to comm... See more Thank you for sharing your perspective. I appreciate you raising the point about free CAT tools and the challenges of introducing new commercial alternatives.
Just to clarify, this research isn't about proposing another general-purpose CAT tool. I'm interested in understanding real software decisions and whether existing solutions leave any recurring work unresolved. Experiences where current tools work well are equally valuable.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | In the interests of transparency ... | Oct 18 |
kosuke kajimoto wrote:
ProZ support has permitted this inquiry in the technical forums.
(...)
Given the increasing numbers of Proz forum topics started by 'New users' whose profiles are utterly empty, and which make potentially invasive enquires about the business practices of long-standing Proz members, I wonder if a member of the Proz staff would care to come here and confirm the above-quoted statement from the OP?
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| Clarification on permission to post this inquiry | Oct 18 |
Jennifer Levey wrote:
kosuke kajimoto wrote:
ProZ support has permitted this inquiry in the technical forums.
(...)
Given the increasing numbers of Proz forum topics started by 'New users' whose profiles are utterly empty, and which make potentially invasive enquires about the business practices of long-standing Proz members, I wonder if a member of the Proz staff would care to come here and confirm the above-quoted statement from the OP?
Thank you for raising this concern. I understand why a new account asking about professional software decisions could raise questions.
For clarity, I represent a small software business in Japan conducting pre-development research. I am not presenting myself as a translator or a CAT software vendor. Participation is entirely voluntary, and I am not asking for private business records, client information or contact details.
Before posting, I contacted ProZ support and received permission to post this inquiry in the technical forums.
I agree that confirmation directly from ProZ staff would be reassuring, and I would welcome that. I also understand that permission to post is not an endorsement of any future product or commercial activity.
Thank you for highlighting the importance of transparency.
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kosuke kajimoto wrote:
Thank you for raising this concern. I understand why a new account asking about professional software decisions could raise questions.
For clarity, (...)
Your response tells us nothing new about you, about the company you say you represent, or about the permission you say you got from Proz staff. The minimalist information added a few minutes to your profile also tells us nothing new.
"Due diligence" is just as relevant to our business, procurement and technical strategies as it is to our requirement to verify the credentials of our clients (KYC).
Until you have taken steps to drop the cloak of anonymity surrounding this topic, and/or until such time as a senior representative of Proz.com has confirmed that you were given "permission to post this inquiry in the technical forums" (and, hopefully, confirm also that Proz carried out appropriate due diligence before giving such permission), I would strongly recommend that colleagues refrain from responding to your questions.
| | | | | Permission granted by ProZ | Oct 19 |
kosuke kajimoto wrote:
Jennifer Levey wrote:
kosuke kajimoto wrote:
ProZ support has permitted this inquiry in the technical forums.
(...)
Given the increasing numbers of Proz forum topics started by 'New users' whose profiles are utterly empty, and which make potentially invasive enquires about the business practices of long-standing Proz members, I wonder if a member of the Proz staff would care to come here and confirm the above-quoted statement from the OP?
Thank you for raising this concern. I understand why a new account asking about professional software decisions could raise questions.
For clarity, I represent a small software business in Japan conducting pre-development research. I am not presenting myself as a translator or a CAT software vendor. Participation is entirely voluntary, and I am not asking for private business records, client information or contact details.
Before posting, I contacted ProZ support and received permission to post this inquiry in the technical forums.
I agree that confirmation directly from ProZ staff would be reassuring, and I would welcome that. I also understand that permission to post is not an endorsement of any future product or commercial activity.
Thank you for highlighting the importance of transparency.
I confirm permission was requested by the poster.
Ana
ProZ Team
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Ana Moirano wrote:
Permission granted by ProZ
(...)
I confirm permission was requested by the poster.
Could you please explain:
- Why the Proz team considered that a potentially intrusive set of questions from an unidentified new user was suitable material for this forum?
- What "due diligence" did the Proz team carry out with regard to the OP and the business they represent? And what did you discover?
- Does the Proz team believe that long-standing members of the Proz community can safely engage with the OP and/or the business they represent?
- Are Proz members/users not entitled to know who is behind this enquiry?
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| I barely use CAT tools now | 07:51 |
Because I don't need it most of the time. And the new versions of all CAT tools are subscription based with a monthly fee, too expensive for my usage (may be 1 or 2 times for one season ie 3-4 months). So I may need to use a CAT tool less than 10 times in a year.
| | | | Peter Motte 
בלגיה
Local time: 21:54
חבר (2009)
מהולנדית לפלמית
+ ...
| Don't answer AI bots | 09:19 |
It's a bot. Don't answer it.
| | | | | @Peter (and @Ana too, if you're still with us) | 10:20 |
Peter Motte wrote:
Don't answer AI bots
It's a bot. Don't answer it.
I'm pretty sure you're right - although the explanation in the opening post is quite elaborate; even to the point of stating up-front that Proz staff had "permitted this inquiry in the technical forums" - something that staff member Ana has subsequently confirmed!
In the (continued) absence of any indication whatsoever as to the identity of the OP, or the business they represent, I've had a quick squint on the web in search of "kosuke kajimoto".
Our friend and (sometimes) trustworthy servant Google found a few potentially relevant 'hits' - amongst them a conference paper presented at an IEICE* event in Japan in 2023 entitled "Investigation of Technical Support Scams Targeting Japan"**, whose second author is identified as Kosuke Kajimoto of the Japan Cybercrime Control Center (JC3).
I can't help wondering if OP's underlying purpose in coming here to ask about something relatively trivial - our recent CAT acquisitions - isn't perhaps the vector of a probe into the cybersecurity measures in force on Proz.com.
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* Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE), Japan
** https://ken.ieice.org/ken/paper/20231117ECY6/eng/
| | | | | Thank you for sharing your experience | 12:26 |
Li-Hsiang Hsu wrote:
Because I don't need it most of the time. And the new versions of all CAT tools are subscription based with a monthly fee, too expensive for my usage (may be 1 or 2 times for one season ie 3-4 months). So I may need to use a CAT tool less than 10 times in a year.
Thank you, Li-Hsiang, for sharing your perspective.
It's valuable to hear from professionals who choose not to use CAT software, too. Understanding when existing tools are sufficient, or when CAT tools are not needed at all, is just as important as identifying unresolved problems.
I appreciate you taking the time to contribute to the discussion.
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| Thank you for the feedback and thoughtful discussion | 12:38 |
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment on this thread, including those who raised concerns about transparency.
I understand why these questions matter in a professional community, and I genuinely appreciate the feedback.
I'm also grateful to the ProZ staff for taking the time to clarify the posting permission.
I respect that everyone has their own perspective and can freely decide whether to participate in the research.
Thank y... See more Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment on this thread, including those who raised concerns about transparency.
I understand why these questions matter in a professional community, and I genuinely appreciate the feedback.
I'm also grateful to the ProZ staff for taking the time to clarify the posting permission.
I respect that everyone has their own perspective and can freely decide whether to participate in the research.
Thank you again for your time and contributions. ▲ Collapse
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