For example, the Brazilian Portuguese version was introduced in 1999 and suspended in 2002. Microsoft introduced several regional versions of Encarta translated into languages other than English. None of these formerly successful encyclopedias remained in print for long after being merged into Encarta. Thus the current Microsoft Encarta can be considered the successor of the Funk and Wagnalls, Collier, and New Merit Scholar encyclopedias. In the late 1990s, Microsoft bought Collier's Encyclopedia and New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia from Macmillan and incorporated them into Encarta. at below book value in 1996 when the print sales could no longer compete with Encarta and the Microsoft distribution channel which focused on bundling copies with new computer systems. Microsoft had originally approached Encyclopædia Britannica, the gold standard of encyclopedias for over a century, in the 1980s, but it declined, believing its print media sales would be hurt however, the Benton Foundation was forced to sell Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (Funk & Wagnalls continued to publish revised editions for several years independently of Encarta, but then ceased printing in the late 1990s.) Previously having been referred to by the codename "Gandalf," the name Encarta was created for Microsoft by an advertising agency. Microsoft continued to operate the Encarta online dictionary at until 2011.Īfter the successes of Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia (1989) and The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (1992), Microsoft initiated Encarta by purchasing non-exclusive rights to the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, incorporating it into its first edition in 1993. Japan's Encarta site was closed on December 31, 2009. The MSN Encarta site in all countries except Japan was closed on October 31, 2009.
In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing the Encarta disc and online versions. For example, the Dutch version had content from the Dutch Winkler Prins encyclopedia.
ENCICLOPEDIA MICROSOFT ENCARTA 2009 FULL
Localized versions may contain contents licensed from available national sources and may contain more or less content than the full English version. Microsoft published similar encyclopedias under the Encarta trademark in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese.
ENCICLOPEDIA MICROSOFT ENCARTA 2009 FREE
Many articles could also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements. As of 2008, the complete English version, Encarta Premium, consisted of more than 62,000 articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive contents, timelines, maps and atlas, and homework tools, and was available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD or multiple CDs. Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation from 1993 to 2009.