Microsoft ends Encarta encyclopaedia service

by Staff, Brand Republic 31-Mar-09, 09:05

LONDON - Microsoft is ending Encarta, the digital encyclopaedia it launched in 1993 as an alternative to larger reference texts, as Wikipedia and search engines have rendered the service obsolete.

Encarta, now also a searchable, web-based service, will shut down its global websites as of October 31, 2009, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will be discontinued two months afterwards.

Microsoft will also cease to sell Encarta software products by June of this year.

In a memo to users online, Microsoft wrote: "Encarta has been a popular product around the world for many years. However, the category of traditional encyclopaedias and reference material has changed.

"People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past.

"As part of Microsoft's goal to deliver the most effective and engaging resources for today's consumer, it has made the decision to exit the Encarta business."

Encarta, along with Windows PC, revolutionised the encyclopaedia market in the mid 90s by packaging free copies of the service in CD-ROM form. Then it was seen as a challenge to The Encyclopedia Britannica, which has long been the dominant force in the market.

However, with the emergence of search engines and comprehensive websites such as Wikipedia, Encarta's popularity began to dwindle by 2000.

Encarta's newest product, Encarta Premium, features 62,000 articles and retails for about $20, while Wikipedia's free service has nearly 3m articles which can be edited and updated by any user.

In 2005, Encarta tried to compete with Wikipedia by allowing users to suggest changes to articles. But the service was soon deemed unpopular as articles were not immediately updated, instead user feedback was submitted to Encarta's editors for review and approval.