My mistake... I knew they used to have separate Canadian and US versions. Microsoft Money still does.

I took a chance on their Brittannica 2002 CD-ROM for $8.99US (or about $13.80CDN) - The best price I've seen here is $49.99CDN - $10US rebate + tax which comes out to about $42.14CDN. So cross your fingers for me and I'll let you know how the great Online Shopping Casino treats me.

P.S.: I remember in university spending hours at the library researching facts on various papers by perusing many books, then as an afterthought going to the Encyclopedia Brittannica - I had been raised on a supermarket Funk & Wagnall, so I had little respect for encyclopedias - however I invariably found the Brittannica had as good or better an overview of even the most arcane subjects and a list of the reference books I had just so labouriously dug out of the library catalogue. After that it became my 'goto guide' for beginning any research. However, this CD-ROM will be my first personal edition (hopefully!). Thanx for the heads up, Mr. Legs.

I remember in '94 the doorbell rang and it was an Encyclopedia salesman. After I closed the door I couldn't help thinking how that person would be out of job real soon.

Originally posted by GoldfishLegs I couldn't help thinking how that person would be out of job real soon.

It's a tough job but it seems someone's still doing it. 2002 Encyclopædia Britannica Print Set Suite

And if you can't afford US$1295, with or without installments, then there's always Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Wasn't Microsoft Encarta originally based upon material from Britannica? If that's any indication of the quality of the CD-ROM version, I cannot see serious people stopping from buying the paper version.

Originally posted by JustMike Wasn't Microsoft Encarta originally based upon material from Britannica?

My Encarta '95 sez it contains material from Funk & Wagnalls, American Heritage, Roget's and Oxford.

P.S. No, I didn't buy it. It was a gift from Billionaire Bill. And no, it's not installed. It's on my shelf sitting right next to the Microsoft Bob CD

Encarta is fluff, barely good enough for writing bad grade school science reports. However, the Brittanica 2002 disc supposedly contains the full text of the print version - I would still jump at the chance to buy a used set of a 70's or 80's edition of Encyclopedia Brittanicas for a couple hundred bucks, if I was ever lucky enough to spot one at a garage sale. It is a serious hammer for any research nails that need a little pounding. Anyways, even though CD-ROM reference material is really a pain in the butt - I'll stick with my $15 special for now.

It is claimed that the 1911 Edition is a classic - my own interests require a bit more modern info - but for literature, math, and history - it still seems pretty authoritative for a 90 year old.

Originally posted by bylo It's the full version of NAV with 1 year of free updates that starts when you register the product.

The 1 year of updates starts when you INSTALL the product. Should you wipe out your PC and reinstall NAV you will find it is good for another 366 days.

BTW it is always a good idea to rebuild every Windows machine every 6-9 months. Keeps it cleaned out of all the crap that accumulates over time.

Zen.

Norton's AV products are crap anyway...why pay for some crap when you can get a good av proggy for free? Go to grisoft.com and download the freeware there...it is heads and tails better than the bloatware tha symantec sells...how do I know? i've used them both for testing purposes. Grisoft is the way to go.

I'll stick with the application that myself and others have heard of. When it comes to Windows software, with few exceptions, you get what you pay for.

Originally posted by zen The 1 year of updates starts when you INSTALL the product.

I think that's what I said upthread. (Why would you install but not register something that you own?)

BTW it is always a good idea to rebuild every Windows machine every 6-9 months. Keeps it cleaned out of all the crap that accumulates over time.

That seems like a complete waste of time to do intentionally when Billg will force you to do it randomly at least that often ;-)

In any case, I imagine it's no more than a couple minutes work with regedit to find and neutralize whatever NAV checks to see if it's been installed before.

Norton's out of stock now.

Couple other titles from the Deals page:

Britannica 2002 (2 CDs) for $12US

Print Artist 12 for $13US

Originally posted by GoldfishLegs Norton's out of stock now. Couple other titles from the Deals page: Britannica 2002 (2 CDs) for $12US Print Artist 12 for $13US

Just to note - the Britannica link still goes to the "standard" edition - I'm not sure whether that has two discs or not, but it is the same one they sold me for $8.99US last week - also only the standard edition runs on mac - the other multimedia editions require windoozy + I would expect the extras to be frills to compete with Encarta (as if in a perfect world they would need to compete).

Originally posted by Aberfoyle Just to note - the Britannica link still goes to the "standard" edition - I'm not sure whether that has two discs or not, but it is the same one they sold me for $8.99US last week - also only the standard edition runs on mac - the other multimedia editions require windoozy + I would expect the extras to be frills to compete with Encarta (as if in a perfect world they would need to compete).

That site only carries the standard edition. Second paragraph states "2 CD-ROM Included"

Originally posted by JustMike I'll stick with the application that myself and others have heard of. When it comes to Windows software, with few exceptions, you get what you pay for.

Hey, lighten up. This type of response is hardly conducive to encouraging others to share their knowledge about deals. Especially such good ones!

Far from proving "you get what you pay for" Symantec, and Microsoft for that matter, only prove that you can sell any old crap as long as you market it loud and long enough.

I have, unfortunately, paid for and used four anti-virus programs over the past few years: Norton, Pc-Cillin, McAfee and Grisoft. In my opinion, anything is better than Norton AV (I spent more money on long-distance phone calls to Symantec than I did on their already expensive and problem plagued “Norton Systems Works” (sic) trying to get it to work -- let alone improve my system. The telephone support person confided to me that the program was faulty and not ready for release and that the phones were ringing off the hook). The AV program itself is over-hyped, sluggish and expensive. If you want to buy it because marketing and price inflation give you a personal sense of comfort that’s your perogative -- but don’t dissuade others from being more astute or posting better deals.

Even at $15 a year (assuming, doubtfully, that you'll get the same deal next year) Norton AV is still way overpriced for what it is. This is particularly true when grisoft.com is free to Canadians for the asking (But not to those godforesaken Europeans -- for some reason).