Re: Problem with OED and NT (was Bemoan)

[Paul Breeze paul.breeze@xxxxxxxx]

Robert

I'd like copies of the HTML pages describing how to install OED 1.1 on my hard disk. At present I
use Demon Tools but a proper installation would be much better.

Paul Breeze

On Tue, 24 Dec 2002 07:15:53 -0500, Robert Holmgren wrote:
>** 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!
>
>-----------------------------
>Robert Holmgren
>holmgren@xxxxxxxx
>-----------------------------