Ever used an Encyclopaedia Program like Microsoft Encarta?

[froggyboy604]

Yes, I used Encyclopaedia programs when I used Windows 95 and 98. I also used an Encyclopaedia program on my school PC back when the internet was slower because of dial-up.

I mostly used them to look at videos, listen to sound clips, and look up information for school back when the internet was mostly text based, and video, audio, and photos where not as popular in the mid to late 90s.

Program based Encyclopaedia like Encarta were the Wikipedias of the 90s, but with authors who were payed, and used their real name in articles they wrote.

I used to spend hours looking through Computer program based Encyclopaedia at home, and at school since there was no YouTube, Social networks, Blogs, and many popular forums back then.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

never knew about it, I'll have to look into it.

 

[froggyboy604]

Indeed, I think mostly high schools who used Windows 95, 98, ME, and 2000 knew about these Encyclopaedia software back when the internet was slow and unreliable for most people who can't afford broadband.

Microsoft is no longer making Encarta, but Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2011 DVD-ROM still exists for 22.49.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1615354336/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=johsgamsto-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1615354336

I think these software are still useful if your internet is bad, you need a reliable source of information which is not written by an anonymous writer which could mean you get a poorer mark or fail on an Essay if the teacher dislike it when students use Anonymous writers in their homework as the source of the answers for a essay or question.

Plus, you are less likely to end up to a Wikipedia page for a Porno star, drugs, alcohol, and other non-child friendly activity like randomly clicking links on Wikipedia articles, or doing searches.

 

[Ikram45]

Yes, I used to use Encyclopaedia back in the old days! It was very informative back then considering the internet was slow at that time

 

[froggyboy604]

Indeed, computer based Encyclopaedia were very informative. It is kind of strange that products like MS Encarta almost predicted what the internet will be like when the internet became faster, and had more users then in the early to mid 90s.

For example, Encarta had a lot of videos, pictures, and articles on it. Now the internet has YouTube which has millions of videos, Google Images, Deviant Art, TinyPic has a lot of images in their directory, and Wikipedia has tons of articles in their website.