Comments on: Words and Obsession http://www.zenoli.net/2007/03/words-and-obsession/ High Weirdness in Low Places Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:02:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: paul http://www.zenoli.net/2007/03/words-and-obsession/comment-page-1/#comment-195 paul Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:55:25 +0000 http://www.zenoli.net/2007/03/words-and-obsession/#comment-195 I haven't been able to bring myself to fork over the three hundred bucks for the CD-ROM edition, but I'm going to break down eventually. I use Linux rather than Windows, and the bloody thing is Windows-only with all sorts of copy protection stupidities. For the moment, happily, I too have university access to the OED online. It is <i>extortionate</i> should one wish to purchase individual access; the cost for a year is the same as purchasing the CD-ROM outright. Peevingly, the web interface has something like six separate frames, so it's effectively impossible to access from the 240x320 screen of my PDA phone. That's my personal killer app: when I can read the OED while standing in line at the supermarket, I'll know this is the twenty-first century. I haven’t been able to bring myself to fork over the three hundred bucks for the CD-ROM edition, but I’m going to break down eventually. I use Linux rather than Windows, and the bloody thing is Windows-only with all sorts of copy protection stupidities.

For the moment, happily, I too have university access to the OED online. It is extortionate should one wish to purchase individual access; the cost for a year is the same as purchasing the CD-ROM outright.

Peevingly, the web interface has something like six separate frames, so it’s effectively impossible to access from the 240×320 screen of my PDA phone. That’s my personal killer app: when I can read the OED while standing in line at the supermarket, I’ll know this is the twenty-first century.

]]> By: Conrad http://www.zenoli.net/2007/03/words-and-obsession/comment-page-1/#comment-194 Conrad Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:39:50 +0000 http://www.zenoli.net/2007/03/words-and-obsession/#comment-194 I agree about the OED, though once I discovered the CD-ROM (and now online, thanks to a university connection), there was no going back. Don't get me wrong--I am fiercely opposed to books on the screen, and lament the disappearance of shelf-stuffed second-hand stores, full of paper oddities. But the OED... you <em>need</em> the CD: the full text in readable format, with easy cross-referencing and best of all a powerful search-engine. It's also pretty cheap, and easy to transport. The AHD I don't like at all; it does have a nice IE root appendix, which I bought separately. I also recommend the Cassell's two-volume French-English dictionary, which even has the French for 'energumen'. (It's 'energumene', rather boringly.) I agree about the OED, though once I discovered the CD-ROM (and now online, thanks to a university connection), there was no going back. Don’t get me wrong–I am fiercely opposed to books on the screen, and lament the disappearance of shelf-stuffed second-hand stores, full of paper oddities. But the OED… you need the CD: the full text in readable format, with easy cross-referencing and best of all a powerful search-engine. It’s also pretty cheap, and easy to transport.

The AHD I don’t like at all; it does have a nice IE root appendix, which I bought separately. I also recommend the Cassell’s two-volume French-English dictionary, which even has the French for ‘energumen’. (It’s ‘energumene’, rather boringly.)

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