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Wikipedia to go Offline
After years of successful topics and entries that everyone has had the ability to contribe to, the online free encyclopedia is finally going offline. Ok, so it's not going offline in the traditional sense of shutting down, Wikipedia has created a DVD version of Wikipedia, with close to 2,000 hand picked articles from a group of academics and Wikipedia staff.
The CD is selling for $13.99, which seems like a rather high price for something that can be accessed for free online. But hey, if you don't have internet access this is the next best option. The Wikipedia Foundation DVD is first available in English format, with a French format as well as other launguages in development.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fred Fry said 5:14PM on 4-20-2007
So, "The Free Encyclopedia" costs $13.99.
Actually, it sounds like a good idea. At least those entries included in the disk will be stable.
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James said 4:02PM on 4-19-2007
Chances of this being a popular add-on item for OLPC: very, very high.
Does it actually fit on just one disc?
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Sven Schoene said 4:15PM on 4-19-2007
Wait a second: Just 2000 articles for $14? Wikipedia consists of "1 731 000+" articles. This is a really awesome idea but very very badly executed. I know that I won't buy this one.
Sven Schoene,
http://www.SvenSchoene.de
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DownloadSquad said 5:20PM on 4-19-2007
The problem I have with this is that it completely ignores the true value of Wikipedia. I rarely consult Wikipedia for very factual-based research articles, simply because they dont hold much credence as references in any type of paper. Encyclopedia Britannica or Encarta are much better for this, usually.
Instead, I find Wikipedia's true value to be the articles on obscure, culturally relevant or related to recent news. I somehow doubt that this CD would have an article like the one about the VA Tech tragedy (RIP all) or something just random like the one about the Freestyle Friday segment of 106&Park, a show on BET. That's where Wikipedia, and its vast base of "human" editors, come into play.
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BillyG said 8:02AM on 4-21-2007
You played dirty with that title :-), scared the heck out of me!
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orig_club_soda said 9:21PM on 4-19-2007
I think the price reflects the labor and materials necessary to make the CD. Labor is not cheap in the US.
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Ankher said 7:54PM on 4-19-2007
Can't you put Wikipedia on your iPod already w/iPodlinux?
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Mark said 9:41AM on 4-20-2007
2000 stories sounds a little low considering the amount of information available on the site. Also does it really need to be on a DVD? Are they include tons of photos or something?
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