Wikipedia: now available on CD
Wikipedia, the free and instantly editable online encyclopaedia, has launched a version that is neither free nor editable nor online. The CD-based version will cost $14 (£7) and will contain a selection of about 2,000 articles taken from the website. They will be given a once-over by Wikipedia volunteers to check for bad language and vandalism, but no more editing will be possible once the articles have been committed to CDs.
The idea is that people without web access will now have access to a wealth of information at a fraction of the cost of a more established encyclopaedia. The problem is that it abandons Wikipedia’s great advantages – its dynamism and scope – and consolidates the fundamental unreliability that is its great disadvantage. Once burnt onto a CD, the information and any errors it contains cannot easily be changed.
Wikipedia volunteers have checked the selected articles for bad language, spelling errors and obvious signs of malicious or misguided editing, but they have not verified the information they contain. The result is a deceptively authoritative tone. Without the outbursts of insanity that punctuate the online version and serve as a useful reminder of its strengths and limitations, it’s easy to be seduced by the cool, orderly prose.
This is of no use heres why
* this will be of no match to the updated information availaible on site.
*Mostly we require only one or two articles and there is no need of all of them to be owned.
Posted by: Rishi Arora | Apr 27, 2007 5:22:23 AM