Printing from the OED2nd on CD

[Dan Lester]

since some of you have inquired about the OED2 on cdrom, this may
be of interest....and since its already from a list with 4600 members
i don't hesitate to send it to a couple hundred more....and those who
don't like it can take it up with me....on or off list.... dan
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Please respond directly to the author, not PACS-L. Thanks, Dana

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
We recently purchased the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition)
on CD-ROM. In trying to use it we "discovered" that it is not
possible to print from the WORD search screen. It was confirmed by
Oxford that this was a deliberate decision on Oxford's part.

In addition, printing from any of the other search choices is
extremely awkward. As we understand it the search must be saved to
a DOS file and then printing done from either Windows or DOS. The
OED2nd is mounted on a public use workstation and we try to protect
ourselves by limiting access to DOS and/or Windows with a password
so that students cannot change the configuration, etc. of the
worksatation.

We are interested in reactions from other libraries who have
purchased the OED2nd. Is this what you expected? How are you
coping with the printing problem? Is there a way to organize and
protest?

Thanks for any information you can share.

Sue Beidler
Snowden Library
Lycoming College
bei...@shrsys.hslc.org

[Bill Merrill]

Thanks for this, Dan, on OED2. I am an editor with the Perseus
Project, which has published a data base of Ancient Greek
civilization on CD. It includes Greek and English text, lexical
tools, digitized images of art and archaeology, atlas, ktl.

That Oxford has deliberately hindered printing of OED2 does not
surprise me. They haven't a clue what electronic publishing is
all about. Oxford Classical Texts (and the German Teubner editions)
are the standard in our field. We had to negotiate rights with
Oxford to some of the Greek text for bucks, and they have been
sticklers with the TLG project (CD of all Greek lit) at Irvine. Like
who's going to get rich printing out copies of Ancient Greek? Pirated
editions of Sophocles? Give me a break! Same with the OED2. Oxford,
it seems, these visions of unscrupulous users distributing illegal
print outs of the letter Q. As a result they hinder its use by making
it extremely difficult to print. It looks to me as though they are
kicking themselves in the teeth.

Perseus, on the other hand, works on the Mac-based HyperCard.
You can copy a stack to your hard disk and use it however you
want. You can print out "within reason" what you need for research
and teaching according to our publisher, Yale University Press.
Perseus version 1.0 takes up between 680-700 Meg, slightly more
than the OED, and you can buy it for $125. I do not know what
the OED2 CD costs, but I can tell you that if the price were
right and Oxford weren't so up tight that they restrict its
use, there would soon be one on every desk.

William P. Merrill
Harvard University
st40...@brownvm.brown.edu

[Dan Lester]

OED2 is $895.....and is supposed to be the same price in Mac format
in early 93, when available. They will discuss networking prices with
you if you call them....but they don't seem very interested. Guess they
figure that since the price is under a kilobuck that it is a "mass market"
or "impulse" purchase item. Right....

dan

*****************************************************************************
* Dan Lester Bitnet: alileste@idbsu *
* Associate University Librarian Internet: alil...@idbsu.idbsu.edu *
* Boise State University *
* Boise, Idaho 83725 BSU and I have a deal: I don't speak *
* 208-385-1234 for them and they don't speak for me. *
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[Graham Toal]

On Tue, 6 Oct 1992 09:23:50 MST, "Dan Lester" <ALIL...@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU> wrote:
> OED2 is $895.....and is supposed to be the same price in Mac format
> in early 93, when available. They will discuss networking prices with

Hmmm... the first CD I've noticed where it's actually cost-effective to
bootleg it (costs about $50 to do a write-once CD if you have the right
equipment). Wonder if any of that is going on?

G

[Dan Lester]

On Tue, 6 Oct 1992 18:14:00 BST Graham Toal said:
>> OED2 is $895.....and is supposed to be the same price in Mac format
>

>Hmmm... the first CD I've noticed where it's actually cost-effective to
>bootleg it (costs about $50 to do a write-once CD if you have the right
>equipment). Wonder if any of that is going on?
>

Well, what about all the index CDs we have in libraries, which have
a subscription cost (licensing, not ownership) of anywhere from hundreds
to 6,000 bucks a year. Some are more....we just don't have any of them.

dan