Wikipedia

Encarta

"Mind Maze" redirects here. For the song, seeWitness (Katy Perry album).

MicrosoftEncartais a discontinueddigitalmultimediaencyclopediapublished byMicrosoftfrom 1993 to 2009. Originally sold onCD-ROMorDVD,it was also available online via annual subscription, although later articles could also be viewed for free online with advertisements.[1]By 2008, the complete English version,Encarta Premium,consisted of more than 62,000 articles,[2]numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive content, timelines, maps, atlases and homework tools.[citation needed]

Microsoft Encarta
Developer(s)Microsoft
Final release
2009 / August 2008;16 years ago(2008-08)
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Available inEnglish, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Japanese
TypeEncyclopedia
LicenseProprietarycommercial software
WebsiteFormerly encarta.msnat theWayback Machine(archived October 31, 2009)

Microsoft published similar encyclopedias under theEncartatrademark in various languages, includingGerman,French,Spanish,Dutch,Italian,PortugueseandJapanese.Localized versions contained contents licensed from national sources and different amounts of content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch-language version had content from the DutchWinkler Prinsencyclopedia.[3]

In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing both theEncartadisc and online versions. TheMSNEncartasite was closed on October 31, 2009, in all countries except Japan, where it was closed on December 31, 2009.[4][5]Microsoft continued to operate theEncartaonline dictionary until 2011.[6]

History

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Background

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In 1985, Microsoft attempted to establish a partnership withEncyclopædia Britannicato create a CD-ROM version of their publication. Since their management felt it would not fit in with their traditional print-based offerings,Britannicarejected Microsoft's offer.[7]By 1989, the software company struck a non-exclusive rights deal with the publishers of theFunk & WagnallsEncyclopedia,and considered a rewrite of the material.[7][8]Following the successes ofCompton's Multimedia Encyclopedia(1989; published byBritannica[7]) andThe New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia(1992),[9]Microsoft initiated their multimedia-encyclopedia project under the internal codename "Gandalf".[10][11][12][13]

Launch

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In 1993, "Gandalf" was officially launched asEncarta;the name was created for Microsoft by an advertising agency.[14]Encartacost $395 upon release,[15]although it soon dropped to $99, and was oftenbundledinto the price of a new computer purchase.[16][17][18]The text ofFunk & Wagnallsserved as the basis of its first edition;[8]Funk & Wagnalls continued to publish revised editions for several years independently ofEncarta,but ceased printing in the late 1990s.[citation needed]

Later that decade, Microsoft added content fromCollier's EncyclopediaandNew Merit Scholar's EncyclopediafromMacmillanintoEncartaafter purchasing them. Thus the final MicrosoftEncartacan be considered the successor of theFunk and Wagnalls,Collier,andNew Merit Scholarencyclopedias. None of these formerly successful encyclopedias remained in print for long after being merged intoEncarta.[citation needed]

Microsoft introduced several regional versions ofEncartalocalized for international markets. For example, theBrazilian Portugueseversion was introduced in 1999 and suspended in 2002.[19]The Spanish version was somewhat smaller than the English one, at 42,000 articles.[citation needed]

Move to the web and demise

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In 2000, the fullEncartacontent became available on theWorld Wide Webto subscribers, with a subset available for free to anyone.[16]In 2006, Websters Multimedia, aBellevue, Washingtonsubsidiary of London-based Websters International Publishers, took over maintenance ofEncartafrom Microsoft.[20]The last version wasEncarta Premium2009, released in August 2008.[2]

Microsoft announced in April 2009 that it would cease to sellMicrosoft Studentand all editions ofEncarta Premiumsoftware products worldwide by June 2009, citing changes in the way people seek information, and in the traditional encyclopedia and reference material market, as the key reasons behind the termination.[4]Updates forEncartawere offered until October 2009.[4]Additionally, MSNEncartaweb sites were discontinued around October 31, 2009, with the exception ofEncarta Japanwhich was discontinued on December 31, 2009. Existing MSNEncarta Premium(part ofMSN Premium) subscribers were refunded.[4]

The demise ofEncartawas widely attributed to competition from the free and user-generatedWikipedia,[21][22][23]which grew to be larger thanEncartafrom its early beginnings in 2001[24]due to the popularization by web search services likeGoogle.[16]

Contents and features

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Encarta'sstandard edition[25]included approximately 50,000 articles, with additional images, videos and sounds. The premium editions contained over 62,000 articles and othermultimediacontent, such as 25,000 pictures and illustrations, over 300 videos and animations, and an interactive atlas with 1.8 million locations. Its articles were integrated with multimedia content and could include links to websites selected by its editors.Encarta'sarticles in general were less lengthy and more summarized than the printed version ofEncyclopædia Britannicaor the online Wikipedia. Like most multimedia encyclopedias,Encarta'sarticles tended to provide an overview of the subject rather than an exhaustive coverage and can only be viewed one at a time.[citation needed]

Asidebarcould display alternative views, essays, journals or original materials relevant to the topic. For example, when reading about computers, it featuredannalssince 1967 of the computer industry.Encartaalso supportedclosed captioningfor the hearing impaired. A separate program, calledEncarta Research Organizerwas included in early versions for gathering and organizing information and constructing a Word document-based report. Later versions includedEncarta Researcher,a browser plugin to organize information fromEncartaarticles and web pages into research projects. Content copied fromEncartawas appended with acopyrightboilerplate message after the selection. The user interface allowed for viewing content with only images, videos, sounds, animations, 360-degree views, virtual tours, charts and tables or only interactives.[citation needed]

Encarta was originally available for sale on 1–5CD-ROMsor a DVD.[26][27]Some new PCs were shipped with anOEMedition of Encarta.[28]

Encarta 2000and later had "Map Treks", which were tours of geographic features and concepts. Microsoft also had for a brief period a separate product known asEncarta Africanawhich was an encyclopedia of black history and culture. Starting with the 2001 version, it was integrated into the main Encarta Reference Suite.[29]Encarta 2002and onward featured3D Virtual Toursof ancient structures, for example theAcropolis;2D panoramic images of world wonders or major cities; and a virtual flight feature which allowed users to fly a virtual airplane over a coarsely generated artificiallandscapearea. Version2002also introduced the ability to install the entire encyclopedia locally to the hard disk drive to prevent frequent swapping of discs, and it updated far more often than its predecessors, with a rate of nearly 3–4 updates per week compared to the monthly updates that were used in prior versions of Encarta.[30]

Encarta 2003incorporated literature guides and book summaries, foreign language translation dictionaries, aHomework CenterandChart Maker.Encarta'sVisual Browser,available since the 2004 version, presented a user with a list of related topics making them more discoverable. A collection of 32Discovery Channelvideos were also later added.Encarta 2005introduced another program calledEncarta Kidsaimed at children to make learning fun.[citation needed]

Encartaalso included atriviagame called "MindMaze"[31](accessible through Ctrl+Z)[32]in which the player explores a castle by answering questions whose answers can be found in the encyclopedia's articles.[33]There was also a "Geography Quiz" and several other games and quizzes, some quizzes also inEncarta Kids.[citation needed]

Until 2005,Encartacame in three primary software editions: Standard, Deluxe, and Reference Library (called Reference Suite until Encarta 2002) (price and features in that order). Beginning withEncarta 2006,however, whenWebsters Multimediatook over its maintenance,Encartabecame a feature of Microsoft Student. Although it was possible to purchase only theEncartaencyclopedia separately, Microsoft Student bundles togetherEncarta PremiumwithMicrosoft Math(agraphing-calculatorprogram) and Learning Essentials, an add-in which provides templates forMicrosoft Office.In addition, the Deluxe and Reference Library editions were discontinued: absorbed into a new, more comprehensive Premium package.Encarta'suser interface was shared with Microsoft Student, and was streamlined to reduce clutter with only a Search box which returned relevant results. However, it became no longer possible to simply browse all the encyclopedia articles Alpha betically.[citation needed]

World Atlas

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The dynamic maps were generated with the same engine that poweredMicrosoft MapPointsoftware. The map was avirtual globethat one could freely rotate and magnify to any location down to major streets for big cities. The globe had multiple surfaces displaying political boundaries, physical landmarks, historical maps and statistical information. One could selectively display statistical values on the globe surface or in a tabular form, different sized cities, various geological or human-made features andreference linesin a map.[citation needed]

The maps containedhyperlinksto related articles ( "Map Trek" ) and also supported a "Dynamic Sensor" that provides thelatitude,longitude,place name,population andlocal timefor any point on the globe.Encartaalso generated a visible-light moon atlas with names of majorcratersand hyperlinks. However, it did not include aplanetarium,but instead had a small interactiveconstellation-only map.[citation needed]

In addition to database generated maps, many other illustrative maps inEncarta( "Historical Maps" ) were drawn by artists. Some more advanced maps wereinteractive:for example, the large African map for Africana could display information such as political boundaries or the distribution of Africanflora.[citation needed]

Criticism of regional variations

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Robert McHenry,while Editor-in-Chief of theEncyclopædia Britannica,criticizedEncartafor differences in factual content between national versions ofEncarta,accusing Microsoft of "pandering to local prejudices" instead of presenting subjects objectively.[34]An article written byBill Gatesaddressed the nature of writing encyclopedias for different regions.[35]

Technology

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Before the emergence of theWorld Wide Webfor information browsing, Microsoft recognized the importance of having an engine that supported amultimediamarkup language,full text search, and extensibility using software objects. Thehypertextdisplay,hyperlinkingand search software was created by a team ofCD-ROMDivision developers in the late 1980s who designed it as a generalized engine for uses as diverse asinteractive help,document management systemsand as ambitious as a multimedia encyclopedia.[citation needed]

Encartawas able to use various Microsoft technologies because it was extensible withsoftware componentsfor displaying unique types of multimedia information. For example, a snap in map engine is adapted from itsMapPointsoftware. The hypertext and search engine used byEncartaalso poweredMicrosoft Bookshelf.[citation needed]

Encartaused database technologies to generate much of its multimedia content. For example,Encartagenerated each zoomable map from a globalgeographic information systemdatabase on demand.[citation needed]

When a user used thecopy and pastefunction of Microsoft Windows onEncartaon more than five words,Encartaautomatically appended acopyrightboilerplatemessage after the paste.[citation needed]

User editing

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Early in 2005, Encarta's editor-in-chief at the time, Gary Alt, announced that the onlineEncartastarted to allow users to suggest changes to existing articles.[36]

Encarta'scontent was accessible using a conversational interface onWindows Live Messengervia the MSNBot"Encarta Instant Answers".[37]The bot could answer many encyclopedia related questions directly in the IM window. It used short sentences from theEncartawebsite, and sometimes displays full articles in theInternet Explorer-based browser on the right. It also could complete simple mathematical and advanced algebra problems. This service was also available in German,[38]Spanish,[39]French[40]and Japanese.[41]

Updates

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Each summer Microsoft published a new version ofEncarta.However, despite the inclusion of news-related and some supplementary articles,Encarta'scontents had not been changed substantially in its later years. Besides the yearly update, the installed offline copy could be updated over the Internet for a certain period for free depending on the edition. Some articles (usually about 2,000) were updated to reflect important changes or events. When the update period expired, an advertisement prompting to upgrade to the new version was displayed to the user occasionally.[citation needed]

Reception

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The editors ofPC Gamer USnominatedMicrosoft Encarta '95for their 1994 "Best Educational Product" award, although it lost to the CD-ROM adaptation ofThe Way Things Work.[42]

See also

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References

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  1. ^For the free service, one should use the URL"MSN Search".Archived fromthe originalon 2005-08-11.Retrieved2006-01-07.(MSN Search Encarta) rather thanhttp://encarta.msnArchived2009-10-31 at theWayback Machine(MSN Encarta: Online Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Atlas, and Homework).Archived2009-10-31.
  2. ^ab"Encarta 2009 Information".Microsoft.Archivedfrom the original on 2009-06-27.Retrieved2012-03-13.
  3. ^Loveland, Jeff (2019).The European Encyclopedia: From 1650 to the Twenty-First Century.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 460.ISBN9781108481090.Archivedfrom the original on 8 April 2022.Retrieved8 April2022.
  4. ^abcdImportant Notice: MSN Encarta to be Discontinued(MSN Encarta).Archived2009-10-31.
  5. ^Protalinski, Emil (March 30, 2009)."Microsoft to kill Encarta later this year:Microsoft has announced that it is discontinuing its Encarta line of products. The software products will be gone by June 2009 and the website will go down October 31, 2009".Microsoft:News.Ars Technica.Archivedfrom the original on April 27, 2012.Retrieved2009-04-08.
  6. ^"Dictionary - MSN Encarta".2011-08-17. Archived fromthe originalon 2011-08-17.Retrieved2018-09-01.
  7. ^abcGreenstein, Shane (June 2016)."The reference wars: Encyclopaedia Britannica's decline and Encarta's emergence: Encyclopaedia Britannica's Decline and Encarta's Emergence".Strategic Management Journal.38(5): 995–1017.doi:10.1002/smj.2552.Archivedfrom the original on 2023-03-02.Retrieved2023-03-02.
  8. ^abStross, Randall (2 May 2009)."Encyclopedic Knowledge, Then vs. Now".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 28 November 2021.Retrieved28 November2021.
  9. ^Kister, Kenneth(1994).Kister's Best Encyclopedias.
  10. ^"Interview with Jon Kertzer, director of Smithsonian Global Sound, for the Smithsonian Center for Folk Life and Cultural Heritage"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 10, 2007.Retrieved2009-08-24.
  11. ^"Chronology of personal computers".Archivedfrom the original on 2009-04-20.Retrieved2009-08-24.
  12. ^"Chris Smith blog post at MSDN".Archivedfrom the original on 2010-03-11.Retrieved2009-08-24.
  13. ^Cohen, Noam (March 30, 2009)."Patrick, Graphic design intern on Version 1.0 of Encarta".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 2009-06-03.Retrieved2009-08-24.
  14. ^Harvard Business School Case Study 'Blown to Bits'
  15. ^"Coming Attractions: Encyclopedias"Archived2023-10-04 at theWayback Machine,22 Dec 1992, PC Mag
  16. ^abcStross, Randall (2009-05-02)."Encyclopedic Knowledge, Then vs. Now".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on 2017-03-16.Retrieved2024-08-14.
  17. ^Tom CorddryArchived2014-08-29 at theWayback Machine:"Encartawas not given away but sold at retail for about $100, and sold wholesale to PC manufacturers who bundled it with new machines. "
  18. ^"The Crisis at Encyclopædia Britannica"(PDF).Kellogg School of Management.Northwestern University.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2009-03-25.Retrieved2008-08-05.
  19. ^"Bem-vindo à Microsoft Brasil".Microsoft.Archivedfrom the original on 2012-01-24.Retrieved2012-03-13.
  20. ^"Websters International Publishers – Where it all began".Webstersmultimedia.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-03-02.Retrieved2012-03-13.
  21. ^Gralla, Preston (March 31, 2009)."What Was Encarta? Look It Up on Wikipedia".PC World.Archived fromthe originalon 2012-10-17.Retrieved2009-11-12.
  22. ^McDougall, Paul (March 31, 2009)."Microsoft Encarta Is Web 2.0's Latest Victim".InformationWeek.Archivedfrom the original on 2017-02-02.Retrieved2017-01-25.
  23. ^Alderman, Naomi (7 April 2009)."Encarta's failure is no tragedy: Wikipedia has succeeded where Microsoft's Encarta failed, and seems to be a reversal of the 'tragedy of the commons'".The Guardian.London.Archivedfrom the original on 22 August 2017.RetrievedApril 29,2010.
  24. ^Noam Cohen."Microsoft Encarta Dies After Long Battle With Wikipedia"Archived2009-04-23 at theWayback MachineNew York Times
  25. ^"Microsoft Encarta Product Details".Microsoft. Archived fromthe originalon 2004-12-12.Retrieved2012-03-13.
  26. ^"Encarta 97 Adds Content, Extra CD".Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-02.Retrieved2018-05-02.Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia now comes in two versions: the award-winning Encarta 97 Encyclopedia on a single compact disc, and the new two-CD Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, Deluxe Edition.
  27. ^"Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2003 Takes the Work Out of Homework".27 June 2002.Archivedfrom the original on 4 October 2023.Retrieved2 May2018.The Encarta Reference Library 2003 five-disc CD-ROM and single-disk DVD have an estimated retail price** of $74.95 (U.S.) before a $10 (U.S.) mail-in rebate.
  28. ^"Packard Bell ups the value of its computers with huge new software bundle".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-06-26.For pure reference, Packard Bell is providing 'Microsoft(R) Encarta(TM) '95,'
  29. ^"Award-Winning Encarta Africana Included in Suite for the First Time".Microsoft. Archived fromthe originalon 2011-06-04.Retrieved2012-03-13.
  30. ^Byron, Hinson."Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2002 DVD- Review".ActiveWin.Archivedfrom the original on 15 March 2021.Retrieved7 December2020.
  31. ^Caldwell, Brendan (April 4, 2017)."Have You Played...Encarta's MindMaze?".Rock Paper Shotgun.Archivedfrom the original on December 8, 2022.RetrievedAugust 3,2022.
  32. ^Coyle, Deirdre (November 21, 2018)."The Encarta MindMaze Witch".Unwinnable Monthly.No. 109.ISSN2572-5572.OCLC981250105.Archivedfrom the original on June 26, 2022.RetrievedAugust 3,2022.
  33. ^Williams, Leah J. (July 1, 2020)."Encarta MindMaze: The Kotaku Australia Review".Kotaku Australia.Archivedfrom the original on August 3, 2022.RetrievedAugust 3,2022.
  34. ^McHenry, Robert."The Microsoft Way".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-27.,essay by Robert McHenry
  35. ^Gates, Bill (April 6, 1997)."The facts depend on where you are coming from".The Sunday Times.Archived fromthe originalon June 29, 2012.RetrievedApril 13,2020.
  36. ^"Encarta Encyclopedia Test Edit System",15 April 2005, Associated Press
  37. ^MSN screenname: encarta@conversagent and [email protected]
  38. ^MSN screenname: [email protected]
  39. ^MSN screenname: [email protected]
  40. ^MSN screenname: [email protected]
  41. ^MSN screenname: [email protected]
  42. ^Staff (March 1995). "The First AnnualPC GamerAwards ".PC Gamer.2(3): 44, 45, 47, 48, 51.
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