''Microsoft Encarta'' is a discontinued digital

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

encyclopedia published by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, it was also available on the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

via an annual subscription, although later articles could also be viewed for free online with advertisements. By 2008, the complete English version, ''Encarta Premium'', consisted of more than 62,000 articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive content, timelines, maps, atlases and homework tools. Microsoft published similar encyclopedias under the ''Encarta'' trademark in various languages, including

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. Localized versions contained contents licensed from national sources and more or less content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch-language version had content from the Dutch ''

Winkler Prins The ''Winkler Prins'' is a Dutch-language encyclopedia, founded by the Dutch poet and clergyman Anthony Winkler Prins (1817–1908) and published by Elsevier. It has run through nine printed editions; the first, issued in 16 volumes from 1870 ...

'' encyclopedia. In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing both the ''Encarta'' disc and online versions. The

MSN MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

''Encarta'' site was closed on October 31, 2009, in all countries except Japan, where it was closed on December 31, 2009.Important Notice: MSN Encarta to be Discontinued
(MSN Encarta)

2009-10-31. Microsoft continued to operate the ''Encarta'' online dictionary until 2011.

History

Background

After the successes of ''

Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia ''Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact-Index'' is a home and school encyclopedia first published in 1922 as ''Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia''. The word "Pictured" was removed from the title with the 1968 edition.Encyclopædia Britannica, 1988. The en ...

'' (1989) and ''

The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Grolier was one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including '' The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), '' The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Aca ...

'' (1992), Microsoft initiated ''Encarta'', under the internal codename "Gandalf", by purchasing non-exclusive

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

to the ''

Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...

Encyclopedia'', incorporating it into its first edition in 1993. Funk & Wagnalls continued to publish revised editions for several years independently of Encarta, but ceased printing in the late 1990s.

Launch

The name ''Encarta'' was created for Microsoft by an advertising agency. It launched in 1993 as a $395 product, although it soon dropped to $99, and was often bundled into the price of a new computer purchase."Encyclopedic Knowledge, Then vs. Now"
Randall Stross, May 2, 2009, ''New York Times''Tom Corddry
"''Encarta'' was not given away but sold at retail for about $100, and sold wholesale to PC manufacturers who bundled it with new machines." In the late 1990s, Microsoft added content from ''

Collier's Encyclopedia ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' is a discontinued general encyclopedia first published in 1949 by P. F. Collier and Son in the United States. With ''Encyclopedia Americana'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Collier's Encyclopedia'' became one of the th ...

'' and ''New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia'' from

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

into ''Encarta'' after purchasing them. Thus the final Microsoft ''Encarta'' can be considered the successor of the ''Funk and Wagnalls'', ''Collier'', and ''New Merit Scholar'' encyclopedias. None of these formerly successful encyclopedias remained in print for long after being merged into ''Encarta''. Microsoft introduced several regional versions of ''Encarta'' localized for international markets. For example, the

Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...

version was introduced in 1999 and suspended in 2002. The Spanish version was somewhat smaller than the English one, at 42,000 articles.

Move to the web and demise

In 2000, the full ''Encarta'' content became available on the

to subscribers, with a subset available for free to anyone. In 2006, Websters Multimedia, a

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as a s ...

subsidiary of London-based Websters International Publishers, took over maintenance of ''Encarta'' from Microsoft. The last version was ''Encarta Premium'' 2009, released in August 2008. Microsoft announced in April 2009 that it would cease to sell

Microsoft Student Microsoft Student is a discontinued application from Microsoft designed to help students in schoolwork and homework. It included Encarta, as well as several student-exclusive tools such as additional Microsoft Office templates (called Learning Es ...

and all editions of ''Encarta Premium'' software 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. Updates for ''Encarta'' were offered until October 2009. Additionally, MSN ''Encarta'' web sites were discontinued around October 31, 2009, with the exception of ''Encarta Japan'' which was discontinued on December 31, 2009. Existing MSN ''Encarta Premium'' (part of

MSN Premium MSN Dial-up is an Internet service provider operated by Microsoft in the United States and formerly also in several other countries. Originally named The Microsoft Network, it debuted as a proprietary online service on August 24, 1995, to coinci ...

) subscribers were refunded. The demise of ''Encarta'' was widely attributed to competition from the free and user-generated

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

, which grew to be larger than ''Encarta'' from its early beginnings in 2001 thanks to popularization by web search services like

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

. At the time of its closure in 2009, ''Encarta'' had about 62,000 articles, most behind a

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...

, while the English-language Wikipedia had over 2.8 million articles in

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

Contents and features

''Encarta'' standard edition included approximately 50,000 articles, with additional images, videos and sounds. The premium editions contained over 62,000 articles and other

content, 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'' articles in general were less lengthy and more summarized than the printed version of ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'' or the online Wikipedia. Like most multimedia encyclopedias, ''Encarta'' articles tended to provide an overview of the subject rather than an exhaustive coverage and can only be viewed one at a time. A sidebar could display alternative views, essays, journals or original materials relevant to the topic. For example, when reading about computers, it featured

annals Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

since 1967 of the computer industry. ''Encarta'' also supported

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio por ...

for the hearing impaired. A separate program, called ''Encarta Research Organizer'' was included in early versions for gathering and organizing information and constructing a Word document-based report. Later versions included ''Encarta Researcher'', a browser plugin to organize information from ''Encarta'' articles and web pages into research projects. Content copied from ''Encarta'' was appended with a

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

boilerplate 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. Encarta was originally available for sale on 1-5

s or a DVD. Some new PCs were shipped with an

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

edition of Encarta. ''Encarta 2000'' and later had "Map Treks", which were tours of geographic features and concepts. Microsoft also had for a brief period a separate product known as ''Encarta Africana'' which was an encyclopedia of black history and culture. Starting with the 2001 version, it was integrated into the main Encarta Reference Suite. ''Encarta 2002'' and onward featured ''3D Virtual Tours'' of ancient structures, for example the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

; 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 artificial

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

area. Version ''2002'' also 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. ''Encarta 2003'' incorporated literature guides and book summaries, foreign language translation dictionaries, a ''Homework Center'' and ''Chart Maker''. ''Encarta'' ''Visual Browser'', available since the 2004 version, presented a user with a list of related topics making them more discoverable. A collection of 32

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

videos were also later added. ''Encarta 2005'' introduced another program called ''Encarta Kids'' aimed at children to make learning fun. ''Encarta'' also included a

trivia Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense. Latin Etymology The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forked ...

game called "MindMaze" (accessible through Ctrl+Z) in which the player explores a castle by answering questions whose answers can be found in the encyclopedia's articles. There was also a "Geography Quiz" and several other games and quizzes, some quizzes also in ''Encarta Kids''. Until 2005, ''Encarta'' came in three primary software editions: Standard, Deluxe, and Reference Library (called Reference Suite until Encarta 2002) (price and features in that order). Beginning with ''Encarta 2006'', however, when ''Websters Multimedia'' took over its maintenance, ''Encarta'' became a feature of Microsoft Student. Although it was possible to purchase only the ''Encarta'' encyclopedia separately, Microsoft Student bundles together ''Encarta Premium'' with

Microsoft Math Microsoft Math Solver (formerly Microsoft Mathematics and Microsoft Math) is an entry-level educational app that solves math and science problems. Developed and maintained by Microsoft, it is primarily targeted at students as a learning tool. Unt ...

(a graphing-calculator program) and Learning Essentials, an add-in which provides templates for

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...

. In addition, the Deluxe and Reference Library editions were discontinued: absorbed into a new, more comprehensive Premium package. ''Encarta'' user 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 alphabetically.

World Atlas

The dynamic maps were generated with the same engine that powered

Microsoft MapPoint Microsoft MapPoint is a discontinued software program and service created by Microsoft that allows users to view, edit and integrate maps. The software and technology are designed to facilitate the geographical visualization and analysis of eithe ...

software. The map was a

virtual globe A virtual globe is a three-dimensional (3D) software model or representation of Earth or another world. A virtual globe provides the user with the ability to freely move around in the virtual environment by changing the viewing angle and positio ...

that 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 man-made features and reference lines in a map. The maps contained

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text wit ...

s to related articles ("Map Trek") and also supported a "Dynamic Sensor" that provides the

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

place name Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...

, population and

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

for any point on the globe. ''Encarta'' also generated a visible-light moon atlas with names of major craters and hyperlinks. However, it did not include a

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...

, but instead had a small interactive

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

-only map. In addition to database generated maps, many other illustrative maps in ''Encarta'' ("Historical Maps") were drawn by artists. Some more advanced maps were

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

: for example, the large African map for Africana could display information such as political boundaries or the distribution of African

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

Criticism of regional variations

Robert McHenry Robert Dale McHenry (born April 30, 1945) is an American editor, encyclopedist, philanthropist and writer. McHenry worked from 1967 for Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. or associated companies, becoming editor-in-chief of the ''Encyclopædia Brita ...

, while Editor-in-Chief of the ''

'', criticized ''Encarta'' for differences in factual content between national versions of ''Encarta'', accusing Microsoft of "pandering to local prejudices" instead of presenting subjects objectively. An article written by

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

addressed the nature of writing encyclopedias for different regions.

Technology

Before the emergence of the

for information browsing, Microsoft recognized the importance of having an engine that supported a

markup language Markup language refers to a text-encoding system consisting of a set of symbols inserted in a text document to control its structure, formatting, or the relationship between its parts. Markup is often used to control the display of the document ...

, full text search, and extensibility using software objects. The

hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typi ...

display,

hyperlinking In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text wit ...

and search software was created by a team of

Division developers in the late 1980s who designed it as a generalized engine for uses as diverse as interactive help,

document management system A document management system (DMS) is usually a computerized system used to store, share, track and manage files or documents. Some systems include history tracking where a log of the various versions created and modified by different users is r ...

s and as ambitious as a multimedia encyclopedia. ''Encarta'' was able to use various Microsoft technologies because it was extensible with

software components Component-based software engineering (CBSE), also called component-based development (CBD), is a branch of software engineering that emphasizes the separation of concerns with respect to the wide-ranging functionality available throughout a give ...

for displaying unique types of multimedia information. For example, a snap in map engine is adapted from its MapPoint software. The hypertext and search engine used by ''Encarta'' also powered

Microsoft Bookshelf Microsoft Bookshelf is a discontinued reference collection introduced in 1987 as part of Microsoft's extensive work in promoting CD-ROM technology as a distribution medium for electronic publishing. The original MS-DOS version showcased the mass ...

. ''Encarta'' used database technologies to generate much of its multimedia content. For example, ''Encarta'' generated each zoomable map from a global

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...

database on demand. When a user used the

copy and paste In human–computer interaction and user interface design, cut, copy, and paste are related commands that offer an interprocess communication technique for transferring data through a computer's user interface. The ''cut'' command removes ...

function of Microsoft Windows on ''Encarta'' on more than five words, ''Encarta'' automatically appended a

boilerplate message after the paste.

User editing

Early in 2005, Encarta's editor-in-chief at the time, Gary Alt, announced that the online ''Encarta'' started to allow users to suggest changes to existing articles. ''Encarta'' content was accessible using a conversational interface on

Windows Live Messenger MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "Messenger"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant messaging client, instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger ser ...

via the MSN Bot "Encarta Instant Answers". The bot could answer many encyclopedia related questions directly in the IM window. It used short sentences from the ''Encarta'' website, and sometimes displays full articles in the

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Microsoft Wind ...

-based browser on the right. It also could complete simple mathematical and advanced algebra problems. This service was also available in German, Spanish, French and Japanese.MSN screenname: jp.encarta@botmetro.net

Updates

Each summer Microsoft published a new version of ''Encarta''. However, despite the inclusion of news-related and some supplementary articles, ''Encarta'' contents 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.

Reception

The editors of ''

PC Gamer US ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'' nominated ''Microsoft Encarta '95'' for their 1994 "Best Educational Product" award, although it lost to the CD-ROM adaptation of ''

The Way Things Work ''The Way Things Work'' is a 1988 nonfiction book by David Macaulay with technical text by Neil Ardley. It is an entertaining introduction to everyday machines and the scientific principles behind their operation, describing machines as simple ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1993 software American online encyclopedias Discontinued Microsoft software Dutch online encyclopedias Educational software for Windows French online encyclopedias German online encyclopedias Italian online encyclopedias Japanese online encyclopedias MSN Spanish online encyclopedias Windows-only software 20th-century encyclopedias 21st-century encyclopedias Products and services discontinued in 2008 Timeline Software