They do offer PDF versions [1] of the parts they already have, A-M, O-P (the article explains that N contains particularly difficult words that will need much more work), but the license for the PDF files seems contradictory to me as they claim CC BY-NC-ND but then forbid sharing the files:
> License and limitations of use
> This work is offered to you under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY- NC-ND license (explanation here). In addition, you are not allowed to print or modify (parts of) this file or to upload it to a public website (no file-sharing).
This is an ongoing, large-scale project, so I'm not sure that it comes with any expectations of openness. They're not placing extra limitations on something that could easily be open (which is quite tiresome), they're doing something new.
Who said anything about expectations of openness?
They used a CC license, while at the same time adding further restrictions. They could just have claimed full and proper copyright, instead of this impossible misunderstanding that they ended up with.
They're still using paper slips for their archive of lexicographical data - not an actual database? That was, um, surprising. And maybe it explains why the whole thing is taking so damn long.
> License and limitations of use
> This work is offered to you under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY- NC-ND license (explanation here). In addition, you are not allowed to print or modify (parts of) this file or to upload it to a public website (no file-sharing).
[1] https://www.thesaurus.badw.de/en/tll-digital/tll-open-access...