Vista - Microsoft to kill Encarta later this year

When I first saw this, I had to do a double take. I made sure it wasn't April 1 at least three times before I conceded. While looking around Encarta's homepage today, I stumbled on a message that Microsoft was getting rid of MSN Encarta completely: "On October 31, 2009, MSN Encarta Web sites worldwide will be discontinued, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will be discontinued on December 31, 2009. Additionally, Microsoft will cease to sell Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium software products worldwide by June 2009." Looks like employees at Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica will be throwing parties tonight.

Full Story: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/03/microsoft-to-kill-encarta-later-this-year.ars

If you have a computer with internet access then you have all the
encyclopaedia you need. If you want to find out about planes then type it into google and it will give you lots of websites specialising.

Well that bites

I'm still using Encarta Premium 2007. Hate to hear this. I always liked having a hard copy dictionary and encyclopedia installed on my hard drive. If this is true, then it looks like I'll have to find something else to replace Encarta

All people need now a days is Wikipedia, and the people who don't trust Wikipedia use google. And the people who don't trust the internet should get the Britannica CD.

One should always verify against a number of sources

It'd still be nice to have Encarta aorund though.