Print
Discuss
Send to friend
Without giving too much away, I live 311km from Amsterdam, 909km from Copenhagen, 16,963km from Sydney, and a mere 15,772km from the South Pole.
It says so in Encarta, and it's something I wasted a very enjoyable 10 minutes finding out. That's the trouble with this package, you see, it's just too much fun.
An encyclopaedia lives or dies on its index. It's all very well having the best and most comprehensive information on the market but, if your users can't extract it, then it may as well not be there at all.
Fortunately it's the indexing that is one of this product's strongest points. Each page integrates pictures, text, web links, articles from The Times (of which there are over 1,500) and, where appropriate, audio and video media clips.
Look up a country name and you'll also see live data, such as current weather conditions, embedded into the page.
When demonstrating Encarta's new features, the people from Microsoft used two key phrases: "We want this to be a fluid, living, breathing encyclopaedia" which combines "the speed and efficiency of the CD with the breadth and depth of the web". At the time, we laughed. Now we see it's true.
Further web links are embedded into the content, so if you do a search for, say, Chelmsford, you'll be offered a link to the local council site, where you can supplement the Microsoft-produced content with that produced locally. Where available, there are also links to streamed radio stations to give you a better feel of the places about which you are reading.
A comprehensive world atlas includes a distance measurement tool. Everything is 'as the crow flies', but it's fun nonetheless. For a global map the level of detail is impressive.
Major roads and railways are shown worldwide, and even on the underbelly of our planet you can see the couple of dozen or so research stations positioned throughout Antarctica. There are none, it seems, right on the pole.
Produced in nine language versions, this is not strictly a Redmond product. The development team may be based at Microsoft HQ but, to ensure local relevance, over 650 researchers and writers around the world contributed to the product.
They also provide regular updates for much of the year following your purchase, keeping you up to date. Further updates will ensure the continued relevance of the web links, and Microsoft assures us that this will not simply be through the addition of new sites but, perhaps more importantly, also through the removal of dead links.
Some of the content is less impressive. The company seems rather proud of its ponderous new 3D virtual tours, but we felt they added little to the product and, although far more technically impressive, remain less appealing than the 2D virtual tours and 360-degree views that we have already seen in previous editions.
As ever, there are several releases ranging in price from £29.99 to £99.99. The top price gets you the DVD edition, reviewed here, including the atlas, encyclopaedia and dictionary. Owners of earlier versions can upgrade for a penny shy of £50.
Clicking through the links becomes addictive. Just four clicks away from animating a playful cat, for instance, are the Ten Commandments, so you can see how you can lose yourself for hours.
PROS: So much information, so well presented.
CONS: 3D tours are a great idea, but not all that practical.
PRICE Standard edition £29.99 (£25.52 ex VAT), Reference Library CDRom £89.99 (£76.59 ex VAT), Reference Library DVD £99.99 (£85.10 ex VAT).
CONTACT: Microsoft
0345 002 000 www.microsoft.com
See also:
A fact-packed software collection that will appeal to all ages. 29 May 2002
Still the best reference tool around, this Deluxe 2002 edition is crammed into 2GB. 10 May 2002
Britannica offers a lightweight package which is perfect for heavyweight research. 28 Feb 2002
Microsoft has managed to make learning fun and not just for the younger generation. 27 Feb 2002All Education
del.icio.us
Digg this
reddit!
