Microsoft had a secret, genius reason for making an encyclopedia in the nineties

LOL, I actually owned Encarta, I got it for free when I bought an IBM Aptiva desktop in the nineties. I have to say I was instantly hooked, I liked the whole look and feel. It was better designed than a lot of sites nowadays.

http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-microsoft-encarta-2015-11?r=UK&IR=T

 

An intersting read, but I got a good laugh out of the following:

 

I loved Encarta when I first discovered it. It was great having an encyclopedia at your fingertips without a stack of books to lug around. The first version I owned was '97. I still have it and use it occasionally. It has some good animations that were dropped in later versions.

Now I've got the 2005 version. I like the world atlas and the dictionary, but to a lesser extent since I discovered Wiktionary. Sometimes the audio pronunciation of words is handy.

I wouldn't say it's what sold me on the idea of a PC though, the internet did that.

 

Same over here, I still own the 1995 version, perhaps we should post a couple of screenshots. The audio and video files were fascinating to me, and in fact, it was sort of a preview of the internet. I didn't even know there was a 2005 version. BTW, nowadays I use Wikipedia, which is no surprise, I think most people do. But I did totally forget about Britannica.

http://www.britannica.com/

 

I had 1996, 1999, 2002, and 2005. It was a good product I would still be willing to pay for if it were still in production.

 

Encarta...brings nice memories...