Encarta

"Mind Maze" redirects here. For the song, see Witness (Katy Perry album).

Microsoft Encarta
Developer(s)Microsoft
Final release
2009 / August 2008; 16 years ago (2008-08)
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Available inEnglish, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Japanese
TypeEncyclopedia
LicenseProprietary commercial software
WebsiteFormerly encarta.msn.com at the Wayback Machine (archived October 31, 2009)

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.[citation needed]

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 March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing both the Encarta disc and online versions. The MSN Encarta site was closed on October 31, 2009, in all countries except Japan, where it was closed on December 31, 2009.[4][5] Microsoft continued to operate the Encarta online dictionary until 2011.[6]

  1. ^ For the free service, one should use the URL "MSN Search". Archived from the original on 2005-08-11. Retrieved 2006-01-07. (MSN Search Encarta) rather than http://encarta.msn.com Archived 2009-10-31 at the Wayback Machine (MSN Encarta : Online Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Atlas, and Homework). Archived 2009-10-31.
  2. ^ "Encarta 2009 Information". Microsoft.com. Archived from the original on 2009-06-27. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
  3. ^ Loveland, Jeff (2019). The European Encyclopedia: From 1650 to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 460. ISBN 9781108481090. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  4. ^ Important Notice: MSN Encarta to be Discontinued (MSN Encarta). Archived 2009-10-31.
  5. ^ Protalinski, Emil (March 30, 2009). "Microsoft to kill Encarta later this year:Microsoft has announced that it is discontinuing its Encarta line of products. The software products will be gone by June 2009 and the website will go down October 31, 2009". Microsoft:News. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
  6. ^ "Dictionary - MSN Encarta". 2011-08-17. Archived from the original on 2011-08-17. Retrieved 2018-09-01.