Throwback Thursday: Microsoft Encarta

By on Nov 11, 2010 at 5:01 PM
General November 11, 2010

Before the invention of the internets, information was a hot commodity. If you needed to acquire information on an unknown or obscure topic there were several options at your disposal: the public library, that eccentric uncle who always knew the strangest things, and… encyclopedias. Hell, if you’re old enough you might even remember encyclopedia salesman going door-to-door hawking the novels of knowledge to you or your parents. Well, if you’re a shade too old for the days of the encyclopedia salesman, and Wikipedia wasn’t around when you were an undergrad, you’re definitely a going to remember Microsoft Encarta...

Microsoft Encarta was first launched in 1993 by the Redmond software giant after purchasing the rights to the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia. The digital reference set — which was bundled on CDs and later DVDs — contained tens of thousands of articles, was easy to search, and required zero shelf-space in one’s abode. Encarta gained tremendous popularity throughout the 90′s as it was frequently bundled with new computer systems free of charge. In 1998, Microsoft bought Collier’s Encyclopedia along with New Merit Scholar’s Encyclopedia to further supplement their digital reference set, and, at its peak, Encarta had over 62,000 articles. Microsoft’s Encarta software is often credited as the force behind the destruction of companies such as World Book, who had previously dominated the encyclopedia market for nearly 100 years.

However, just as the dominance of print encyclopedias was brought to an end by the personal-computer revolution, so to was the age of Encarta by the internet revolution. As the 21st-century moved forward, more and more knowledge-seekers made “online” their go-to reference source. Search engines such as Google and free, collaborative encyclopedia sites such as Wikipedia led to the software’s dethroning. Eventually, after a sixteen year existence, Microsoft shutdown Encarta in 2009.

There you have it, this week’s stroll down memory lane. We’re interested to hear about your Encarta memories… and curious to know if anyone has a complete, print, encyclopedia-set older than Andrew.

Thanks to Zara for this week’s Throwback Thursday suggestion!

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

Tags:
, ,
22 Comments

Related Articles

  • http://twitter.com/Efraim_Lebovits Efraim Lebovits

    WOWO!!! What a surprise!! (BTW – First…)

  • JDY

    OMG … I had this.

  • http://www.facebook.com/schramk Kevin Schram

    Remember the trivia based RPG game that some versions of Encarta came with?

    Jesus, I haven’t thought about Encarta in years.

    • http://twitter.com/ungarsfragile That Guy

      Mind Maze?

  • Anonymous

    Totally had this… Did not enjoy doing reports with this.

  • Jpgenius20

    I remember having my mom buying the 98′ version and 2001. It was the best for school projects.

  • Tomm

    My favorite was cranking up the class room’s Packard Bell’s speakers and going to the article for “dijurido.”

  • MaynardGKrebs

    I never respond to blog posts. This post, however, almost brought me to tears. I have such fond memories of hours living with and exploring the World Book Encyclopedia. We were a poor family. Somehow my mom always found the money for not only the Encyclopedia but also the yearly book updates that were sold to keep it as up-to-date as such a fixed information source could be. This was my window onto the world from that tiny, roach infested, snow bound apartment in Buffalo, NY.

    In later years, I followed my mom’s example and made sure that the latest version of Encarta was always available to them. What you may not recall is that a part of the suite of reference resources included in Encarta was Encarta Africana. As an African American parent I so respected Microsoft for funding this effort.

    I am a tenured professor at a major university. My daughter is a freshman at Berkeley with a double major in Physics and Philosophy (Philosophy means lover of knowledge). My son is a Junior at the University of California at Long Beach Majoring in Criminal Justice.

    I credit no small part of my success in the world to my mother’s insight in providing this intellectual escape for me. It gave me a vision of what lay out in the world for me. All I had to do was to grow up and go get it.

    • MaynardGKrebs

      “them” should read “my children”

    • Chris

      “University of California at Long Beach” does not exist. Perhaps you were thinking of “California State University at Long Beach.”

    • Anonymous

      Que the violinist.
      Snows a good thing here in upstate NY!
      and you should be thankful for your past in Buffalo, as it had the impact as to who you are today

      Violin fade out..

  • Matt

    I remember in 96′, when our high school had just installed fresh copies of Encarta on the library computers, my first and most instinctive search on Encarta was, of course, “Breasts”.

    I shit you not.

  • Mark

    encarda lasted till 2009?!?! Wow, I would have expected it to die in 2000 ish

  • Beall49

    Basically if MS had turned this into a website they would of had Wikipedia as well…they’re the kings of almost

  • MRomeo

    Encarta came free with my old Windows 95 Compaq. Back in the day, it was a pretty killer app. It’s interesting to look back and realize how killer apps on pc went from being in offline disc form to completely online.

  • makoto2

    I loved encarta. All my essays from 4-7th grade I owe to encarta

  • http://twitter.com/tsaunders tsaunders

    I used to play the game that game with it – :)

    • Anonymous

      Oh, man. I still remember it, like the girl who would say “The world is your oyster, and you are the pearl”.

  • http://twitter.com/InfoTechNerd Leonard Shelmire

    WOW, a soft smile just came across my face. I too remember those late night last minute Encarta crams. I always pulled me through. Sad thing is the first thought that came to my mind was, where can I buy it.

    and that game was great.

  • The_steven

    I was a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman back in the ’70′s… Worst job I ever had.., The pay was commission, 100%, you don’t sell, you don’t get paid, if the customer returned the set within 1 year, you got charged back..

  • offdayJB

    i never needed to look things up when i was that little, but i remember this name very well. i even remember those hilarious encylopedia salesmen when i was younger, and couldn’t understand why they were only selling books lol. now a days though, ALL i use Google and Wikipedia. FTW!

  • Brentwingfield

    I have a complete encyclopedia set from 1907. I was my great grandfather’s originally.

blog comments powered by Disqus