Re: Problem with OED and NT (was Bemoan)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Bill Troop  on Mon, 23 Dec 2002
22:05:44 -0500


> By the way, is the new version on two CDs?

Yeah, but the dictionary is still on one CD, AFAIK. The other CD is
installation, replacing the diskette of v1. New version (v3) includes the 3
supplements produced in the 80s and 90s (mostly newfangled words, I assume; I'm
an antiquarian and could care less). $125 to update. What they _say_ they've
done is added "at user request" a "new option" to run the dictionary off the
hard disk. Oxford has published so much misinformation about this option (and
other options, such as networking, which they say you can't do, that it's
"single user only" -- which is a complete crock, I serve my entire LAN off a
single copy of OED on my server). When v1 came out, they reluctantly conceded
that you could run it off the HD, but that there wouldn't be any increase in
speed. That was perhaps the single funniest thing they said; the speed
increase is gigantic. Now they say that you can run v3 off the HD; but in fact
according to what I read they still force you to put the original physical CD
into the CD drive every 90 days to "re-verify".

Here, however, is a key point: the _only_ version that runs, without
verification or any other check, off HD is v1.10 -- this dates from back when
they were still naive about piracy. There is NO noticeable difference in
functionality between that and v1.13 or v1.14. I got my copy of v1.10 from
Oxford simply by phoning them up and asking for it specifically (v1.13 was
delivered with the package I bought). I still have copies of the HTML pages
that describe how to install the dictionary to HD, if you're interested (those
pages are long-gone from Oxford's website -- replaced by pages that say you
canNOT install to HD!). I wrote to Oxford's electronic division chief and
complained about v2 software being anti-intellectual, and a disgrace for a
premier educational institution to serve up a crippled, slow dictionary -- the
greatest work of scholarship in history, hands down -- just so they could make
a few more dollars, that they had their priorities all screwed up. And you
know what? She wrote back and said she agreed with me completely!

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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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