[WikiEN-l] OED goes print-only

[AGK]

> "Third edition of OED unlikely to appear in print format"

Very unsurprising.

> "Publishers confirm that print dictionary market is disappearing so
third edition is unlikely"

Does anybody know the rough statistics on printed encyclopedias (which
admittedly constitute a far smaller market than dictionaries)? In any
case this movement away from print can only be promising news for our
readership statistics.

> (One therefore wonders the continuing usefulness of edition numbers.)

For ease of reference, I guess. In academia, when a vagueism crops up
in texts being studied or researched, attempts to pin down the precise
meaning intended are often supported by reference to a dictionary; to
disguise the fact that nothing more complex than "reading the
dictionary" is being undertaken, full references to the OED will be
supplied.

There *is* something nice about edition numbers, though.

> Even online, I suspect you would have edition numbers to identify major updates, with more frequent updates occurring between those "save points".

Aye, that may well be the compromise they arrive at.

AGK