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Wikipedia Planning a DVD Version

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the encylopedia-netannica dept.

daria42 writes "The Wikipedia Foundation hopes to sell an English version of Wikipedia on CD-ROM and DVD before the end of the year. A boxed set of the German language version of Wikipedia has been available since last year. An updated version of the German Wikipedia was launched on Amazon.de this week, and the e-commerce site has received 8,000 pre-orders, according to Wikipedia Foundation president Jimmy Wales. Wales said it was easier to put the German version of Wikipedia onto CD as there are significantly less pages than there are for the English language version. He said that English Wikipedia would 'barely fit on 2 DVDs.'"

16 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Another reason the German version fits on CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Frequent mentions of David Hassellhoff compress really well.

    1. Re:Another reason the German version fits on CD by Stevyn · · Score: 5, Funny

      AndbecauseGermansdonotwastebytesonspaces

    2. Re:Another reason the German version fits on CD by the+pickle · · Score: 5, Funny

      I believe what you meant was "Onderspacen Der Deutschennobegewastenderbytesen."

      p

      --
      In Korea, long hair is for old people!
    3. Re:Another reason the German version fits on CD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      > You could if you studied it for a minute. The rules are actually relatively simples.
      > For example, let's look at everyone's favorite word: "Aktiengesellschaft", meaning a public corporation, and usually abbreviated "AG".
      >
      >... Anyway, it breaks down to Ak/tien/ge/sell/schaft.

      It's even easier if you break it down into:
      A/k/t/i/e/n/g/e/s/e/l/l/s/c/h/a/f/t

    4. Re:Another reason the German version fits on CD by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 5, Funny
      in the English language constructs like this exist as well (e.g. railway consists of two nouns). The only difference is that those speaking English are not free to make up new ones.

      That's right. "Railway", for example, derives from "railuswayus" and was not concatenated by English speakers. We also didn't coin "email", "Internet", or "loudspeaker" - we borrowed those from Swahili.

      I'd go into more detail, but I'm off to check my voicemail and weblog (Spanish).

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  2. But... by over_exposed · · Score: 4, Funny

    How will the trolls deface a read-only version of it?

    --
    "The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his." - Patton
  3. Re:Whaaa? by amliebsch · · Score: 5, Funny
    Where did this figure of two DVDs come from?

    Well, when you add in the theatrical trailers, "making of" featurette, production stills, and commentary tracks... What I want to know is, will it be in Dolby Digital 7.1?

    --
    If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  4. But if you remove all the useless stub articles... by merreborn · · Score: 2, Funny

    The footprint of the english version fits on a floppy!

  5. Re:Where is the Great Publishing House of Ursa Min by Raelus · · Score: 3, Funny

    And instead of a "DONT PANIC" sticker, they'll put on a "DONT EDIT" one.

    --
    "It is the stillest words which bring the storm. Thoughts that come with doves' footsteps guide the world."
  6. BONUS FEATURES! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    Like any good DVD, expect the Wikipedia to be chock-full of bonus features. Among the highlights:
    • Dolby Digital Surround Sound
    • 1337 5u8717135
    • EBG13 Fhogvgyrf
    • TourettesMOTHERFUCKINGBITCHCOCK subSHITMONGERtitles
    • A short music video in which Jimbo breaks into his famous freestyle diss of Brittannica
    • Re-enactments of some of the best NPOV disputes... with puppets!
    • And BJAODN, of course
    And expect a 25-disc Collector's Edition in about 6 months, with the addition of:
    • The complete article talk pages of articles on touchy subjects like abortion, Iraq, circumcision, George W. Bush, homosexuality, and Why Canada Sucks. Invariably, the amount of text generated by the endless bickering over article content is an order of magnitude greater than the article itself... hence the 23 extra DVDs
  7. Re:Whaaa? by isny · · Score: 3, Funny

    Everybody knows that Wikipedia is best read in the original Klingon.

  8. The German version is smaller because... by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny
    Deutche has an amazing built-in fractal encoding scheme. For example, the German version may say:
    Gerflugenichterschweitzenbaggen.
    whereas the English version has to write out:
    Shortly after September 11, 2001, the United States attempted to rally its allies for a strike against the presumed Al-Queda stronghold in Afghanistan.
    Unfortunately, the RAR algorithm averages a 3% compression ratio on German text, in comparison to 82% for English and 94% for French - it's like bzipping a .gz file. On the other hand, there are significant savings due to the lack of entries on "sweet nothings", "pillow talk", and "Bavarian romantic verse".
    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  9. Re:Whaaa? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, not all of us are connected to the Internet 24/7.

    What the hell's wrong with you?

  10. Make it an appliance by andrew71 · · Score: 3, Funny


    self upgrading... and of course, based on GNU/Linux :)

    --
    13-4=54/6
  11. Re:Whaaa? by nc_yori · · Score: 4, Funny

    The best part will be that the 7.1 sound will be put together from contributions by users just like you and me from all over the world!

    The levels will be mostly ok, except for the sections where people have entries for themselves in which the dB level will be upped by 10 +-5. Also, the encoding will be completely and totally correct, except for a very small flaw which will cause the center right speaker to output everything in Latin.

  12. Re:Here's a question: by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

    How are they going to get a Snapshot of Wikipedia in which there is no vandalism in any of the articles?

    It's called "editing".
    You've been reading slashdot too much.

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...