Microsoft Encarta is a discontinued digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, 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.
Microsoft published similar encyclopedias under the Encarta trademark in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese. 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 Dutch Winkler Prins encyclopedia.[3]
In the late 1990s, Microsoft added content from Collier's Encyclopedia and New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia from 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 announced in April 2009 that it would cease to sell Microsoft Student 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.[4] Updates for Encarta were offered until October 2009.[4] 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) subscribers were refunded.[4]
Encarta's standard edition[25] included approximately 50,000 articles, with additional images, videos and sounds. The premium editions contained over 62,000 articles and other multimedia 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's articles in general were less lengthy and more summarized than the printed version of Encyclopædia Britannica or the online Wikipedia. Like most multimedia encyclopedias, Encarta's articles tended to provide an overview of the subject rather than an exhaustive coverage and can only be viewed one at a time.
Encarta also included a trivia game 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 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 (a graphing-calculator program) and Learning Essentials, an add-in which provides templates for Microsoft Office. In addition, the Deluxe and Reference Library editions were discontinued: absorbed into a new, more comprehensive Premium package. Encarta's 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.
Robert McHenry, while Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica, criticized Encarta for differences in factual content between national versions of Encarta, accusing Microsoft of "pandering to local prejudices" instead of presenting subjects objectively.[34] An article written by Bill Gates addressed the nature of writing encyclopedias for different regions.[35]
Before the emergence of the World Wide Web for information browsing, Microsoft recognized the importance of having an engine that supported a multimedia markup language, full text search, and extensibility using software objects. The hypertext display, hyperlinking and search software was created by a team of CD-ROM Division developers in the late 1980s who designed it as a generalized engine for uses as diverse as interactive help, document management systems and as ambitious as a multimedia encyclopedia.
Encarta's content was accessible using a conversational interface on Windows Live Messenger via the MSN Bot "Encarta Instant Answers".[37] 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-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]
The Encyclopedia Britannica has long been much more than a venerable print reference work. Almost two decades ago, it pioneered a freemium website (some content free, other content behind a pay wall). This has now flourished into a comprehensive walled garden of knowledge. Additionally, the Britannica publishes books and DVDs about specific topics and issues (the venerable flagship print encyclopedia had been discontinued in 2012.) These are the best primers and introductions available to a host of fields and areas, from history to science. Add to these the Britannica newly-minted apps and you realize that the Britannica, more than ever, is now everywhere!
Regrettably, the updates seem to have stopped in April 2017 and they are not incorporated into the vast encyclopedia and its search interface: they are out there on a website. Moreover, the product does not alert its user to the existence of completely new articles, only to updated ones. It takes a manual scan of the monthly lists to reveal newly added content.
The Britannica provides considerably more text than any other extant traditional encyclopedia, print or digital (close to 70 million words). While it has noticeably enhanced its non-textual content over the years (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but words, words, and more words), it has now reverted to its roots and scaled back on images and videos in favour of augmented text offerings. It still boasts in excess of 19,000 images and illustrations (depending on the version) and 900 video and audio clips. This is not to mention the Britannica Classics: articles from Britannica's most famous contributors: from Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein to Harry Houdini and from Marie Curie to Orville Wright.
With the demise of Microsoft's Encarta (it has been discontinued) and the tribulations of Wikipedia (its rules have been revamped to resemble a traditional encyclopedia, alienating its contributors in the process), the Encyclopedia Britannica 2017 (established in 1768) may have already won the battle of reference.
Use the following template or our IEEE Citation Generator to cite a encyclopedia article. For help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator.
Ramon Llull left Naples when Pope Celestine V was elected in July1294, and he traveled to Rome. This was an extraordinary period forhis work. During the two years he would spend in Rome he wrote diversetexts about his Art. However, the two most important works inthis period were Desconhort, a poem in which he reflected onhis life, his plans, his failures, and his hopes; and ArborScientiae, an encyclopedia in which he classified knowledge,which would be very appreciated during the Renaissance.
Although I consider Wikipedia on DVD being a bad idea, or Wikipedia being a bad idea full stop, then "according to Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, content from the web site may also be burned onto CDs and DVDs for computer users in places like Africa, which lack access to the internet," ought to be considered morally irresponsible becasue people who have no exposure to the Internet may confuse Wikipedia with a real encyclopedia and end up with a distorted picture of the world and its history.
I'll concede that Wikipedia isn't "polished" like some other "professional" encyclopedias. But to charge that it is useless is simply false, unless you think free, factual information covering subjects such as Calculus, Physics, and the whole gamut of other technical information contained within the body of work put out by Wikipedia is of no interest. Of course, I have yet to see the Wiki-bashers bang on the technical coverage (not to say that it is outstanding or complete - it is neither). Niggling and sniggering at the unsophisticated Wiki-fiddlers seems to be all you oh-so-superior "professional" writers can do in regards to the Wiki. Shame on you for your cynicism at what has been a monumental achievement, with much more to come, carried out by individuals much less practiced at nursing their own egos as the flatulent staff of the now notorious (in this readers mind, anyway) "Reg".
From Aliens to Amadeus, get your fill of 1980s nostalgia with this movie bible of all things bold, bizarre, and boisterous. We've diligently compiled a list of the most influential films of the 1980s that's sure to please popcorn gobblers and highbrow chin-strokers alike. Adventurous, excessive, and experimental, '80s cinema saw moviegoers get their kicks from pictures as wide-ranging as Blade Runner, Gandhi, and Blue Velvet. Science fiction, horror, and action emerged as the defining genres of the decade, with non-human characters like E.T. winning the hearts of millions, and movies such as Ghostbusters and Back to the Future fused comedy and sci-fi to the delight of audiences everywhere. Inside this '80s encyclopedia each movie masterpiece is profiled with stills, a synopsis, and cast, crew, and technical listings. With high-concept Hollywood blockbusters, early CGI, and brilliant special effects, the 1980s saw the invention of a new reality, a movie-world so convincingly real--no matter how far-fetched--that spectators could not help but immerse themselves in it.
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