The Oxford English Dictionary is the internationally recognized authority on the English Language, defining more than 500,000 words and tracing their usage through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of literary and other sources. The text on the CD-ROM comprises the full text of the OED 2nd Edition, plus the three Additions volumes, as well as 7,000 new entries from the OED's continuing research.

Most importantly, OED v4.0 on CD-ROM boasts superb search-and-retrieval software, designed specifically for the electronic version, enabling you to investigate the Dictionary in ways not possible with the print edition. Questions which might have taken years of patient research can now be answered in seconds.

Existing functionality retained from earlier versions includes:

"'OED 4.0 is undoubtedly the best incarnation of the OED to appear on CD-Rom ... It's so useful - not to mention addictive - that you will probably want to set it to launch automatically when you switch your computer on.' John Garth, Daily Mail"

• Windows: Intel® Pentium® 4 1.6 GHz processor or equivalent (2GHz recommended); Microsoft® Windows® Vista, Windows XP, Windows ServerTM 2003, Windows 2000.
• Macintosh: Power PC® G4 867MHz or faster processor; Intel coreTM Duo 2.13GHz or faster processor; Mac OS X v.10.4.x, 10.5.x.
• All platforms: 512MB of RAM; 1Gb free hard disk space; minimum monitor capability: 1024 x 768 pixels and high colour (16 bits per pixel, ie 65,536 colours): local CD-ROM/DVD drive (for installation); runs from hard drive only.