Hi Roger
> I visited the Web site but when I discovered the cost for a personal
> licence I logged off. With all major companies doing their best to offer
> their services at a nominal cost, to charge an individual an annual
> subscription at 350 quid seems, um, surprising. Try comparing the cost with
> that of eg the Encyclopedia Brit.
> How many individual users will they get at that sort of price? 1,000? 5,000?
> And how many million would they get if they charged say 10 quid a year?
The Oxford English Dictionary cannot be supported by advertising due
to its charity status, and it would probably not be possible for it to
copy Britannica's model anyhow. It is a specialist dictionary in that
it contains information so detailed that it is usually used by
scholars and specialists in language, literature and history.
Luckily, such users do a lot of their work in institutions, and
therefore they would have access to the OED Online. Numerous
libraries will be making it available, and that should help get the
cost down over time. I have no doubt that the Press will have a look
at other pricing options once they have observed the public's
reaction, and perhaps come up with an unthought of model for
generating revenue. In the meantime, individual users should have
access through a local library. It is just not the same sort of thing
as the Britannica.
Regards
Simon
=======================================================================
Simon Collery BA
Business Development, Free Pint http://www.freepint.co.uk/
"Helping 27,000 people use the Web for their work"
e: [log in to unmask] t: +44 (0)1865 434 143 f: +44 (0)1784 455 436
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|