[WikiEN-l] Microsoft kills Encarta

[David Goodman]

 Britannica in its various incarnations and Encarta were excellent and
useful reference works. Britannica remains useful.  Encarta I think
could have remained useful also. I really regret that we had a role in
killing it.  Why should we be pleased?
The commercial organizations need to compete. We do not.  The more
encyclopedias the better.



David Goodman, Ph.D, M.L.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG



On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 11:51 PM, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
<cimonavaro at gmail.com> wrote:
> David Gerard wrote:
>> [spotted by Mathias Schindler]
>>
>>
>> http://encarta.msn.com/guide_page_FAQ/FAQ.html
>>
>> Important Notice: MSN Encarta to be Discontinued
>> 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. We understand that Encarta users may have
>> questions regarding this announcement so we have prepared this list of
>> questions and answers below. Please keep reading if you would like
>> more information about these changes to Encarta.
>>
>>
>> - d.
>>
>
> I think this casts a new interesting perspective on
> the decision by Microsoft to buy out powerset.com.
>
> I will be watching with interest, how they will develop
> that product, and whether they intend to incorporate
> it more extensively into their other product offerings.
>
> I have to admit I was skeptical initially when I heard
> powerset.com would be "gobbled up". But should it
> turn out that Microsoft were to really seriously put
> effort into powerset.com, any relief Encyclopaedia
> Britannica may have gained from the reduction of
> competition for number two spot, may prove a little
> short lived. That is unless of course Microsoft/Powerset
> make some kind of deal with EB that they can use
> powersets semantic search engine on also EB
> product.
>
> Of course it is possible that MS have made the
> judgment that the whole sector is not good for
> them, but actually I would prefer to be hopeful
> that this means they would give more impetus
> to powerset now. I personally think powerset is
> currently the best interface for wikipedia, bar
> none.
>
> On the gripping hand, if developing powerset is
> not on the cards for Microsoft, perhaps now that
> they have decided to not hold onto encarta, they
> might be persuadable to sell powerset off, since
> holding on to it is not fending off a competitor to
> encarta. The question of course then would be,
> who would be willing to buy powerset off their
> hands?
>
>
> Yours,
>
> Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
>
>
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