News Report 4

The Wired Campus
April 14, 2009
Microsoft's Encarta, Rendered Obsolete by Wikipedia, Will Shut Down by Brock Reed

I found this to be a very interesting article. The once extremely popular encyclopedia, Encarta, is going to be “euthanized” thanks to information powerhouses like Google and Wikipedia. Although the encyclopedia is only fifteen or so years old, Microsoft announced that it will no longer continue the series. I remember using Encarta as a child and it was usually one of the first sources that I would rely on for small grade-school projects. I remember being overwhelmed at the amount of information that the series contained and on the sheer amount of items it contained. Now, however, I am sure that many people have forgotten completely about Microsoft’s Encyclopedia Encarta. Unfortunately for Encarta, internet sites such as Wikipedia and Google have won over many hearts of today’s students and researchers. I think that it is unfortunate that people rely solely on these two sites in general, when there is so much more to be offered. However, Microsoft was the first to admit that the information was not as relevant and up to date as the information that Wikipedia and Google offer. Those two sites have constant updates and information added to them every day, sometimes every hour, and the sheer amount of information that can be obtained on these two sites alone is incredible. Although some people are forever against Wikipedia due to the unknown source of information at times, there are so many other means of obtaining information. So we must say farewell to the beloved Encyclopedia Encarta and never forget the wonderful projects that the series helped us to complete.