On my 12th birthday I received my first Microsoft Encarta CD. The year was 2000 and it was my most prized possession. Things surely have changed for there was no Wikipedia back then, for if there was I don’t know if I’d have owned a copy for the encyclopedia.
Nearly a decade later Microsoft decides to kill off Encarta. One would assume that it’s an April Fools prank, but then MS isn’t really known to have had a killer sense of humour.
On Encarta’s FAQ page Microsoft announced that will be shutting down all Microsoft Encarta websites by 29th October this year (with the exception of Encarta Japan which will shut down on 31st December 2009) and will stop the distribution of all Student and Premium products by June 2009.
So why is it doing this?
Well, according to Microsoft “People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past.”. Is that a politically correct way of saying that Wikipedia pwned Encarta by providing people with free information?
Maybe. No one can deny that the free encyclopedia as well as the information overload on the internet was simply too much for the Encarta folks to handle. Their sales were dipping drastically and it was only a matter of tie before they unplugged.
And what does Microsoft have to offer in the future?
I suppose they’re in no mood to tell us just yet and the FAQ section just gives us something vague such as this:
Microsoft’s vision is that everyone around the world needs to have access to quality education, and we believe that we can use what we’ve learned and assets we’ve accrued with offerings like Encarta to develop future technology solutions. In doing so, we feel strongly that we are making the right investments that will help make our vision a reality.
Clearly this is just a first in a series of how the internet has changed the ball game for companies like Microsoft which charge people for their products.
