jgreely@oz.cis.ohio-state.edu (J Greely) (11/05/88)
I think there are several discussions going on here, with one camp looking forward to encyclopedias and reference manuals on disc, and others talking about *new* books. I don't think anyone wants the collected works of J Random Hack on electronic media, unless they're a grad student in English. But Shakespeare, a good encyclopedia, the infamous CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (student edition), and others, will make a decent standard reference library for college students (who *are* listed as the primary market, for now). Reference works are a different kind of publishing, more amenable to going electronic. You're not going to convince Ballantine to switch their fiction market for a looong time, but how about the Encyclopedia Britannica? Personally, I want an electronic copy of the OED. The four-point type in my compressed edition gets a bit hard on the eyes. -- J Greely (jgreely@cis.ohio-state.edu; osu-cis!cis.ohio-state.edu!jgreely) "The motto of the place is 'Knowledge in pursuit of excellence'. Not truth, not beauty, not art or science. Just excellence."
wheels@mks.UUCP (Gerry Wheeler) (11/09/88)
In article <26657@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, jgreely@oz.cis.ohio-state.edu (J Greely) writes: > Reference works are a different kind of publishing, more amenable > to going electronic. Personally, I want an electronic copy of > the OED. The four-point type in my compressed edition gets a bit > hard on the eyes. There is a project at the University of Waterloo (just down the road) in conjunction with the Oxford people which is bringing the OED into the electronic age. I understand they have the text online, and I've seen demos of the software they've written to access it. It's very nice indeed. Sounds like it's just the sort of thing the NeXT could handle very well. I wonder if NeXT and OED have gotten together yet. -- Gerry Wheeler Phone: (519)884-2251 Mortice Kern Systems Inc. UUCP: uunet!watmath!mks!wheels 35 King St. North BIX: join mks Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2W9 CompuServe: 73260,1043