[LAW-LIB:58628] REFERENCE: ENCYCLOPEDIAS : MICROSOFT: Microsoft Shuts Encarta, Wikipedia Gives up on Wikia Search

From: David P. Dillard (jwne@temple.edu)
Date: Tue Mar 31 2009 - 15:04:40 PDT

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    Microsoft Shuts Encarta, Wikipedia Gives up on Wikia Search
    Chris Keall | Wednesday April 1 2009 - 09:31am
    The National Business Review
    <http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/
    microsoft-shuts-encarta-wikipedia-gives-wikia-search-98178>

    A shorter URL for the above link:

    <http://tinyurl.com/dgsujk>

    Microsoft will close the book on its online encyclopaedia on October 31.
    Wikipedia bares some of the blame, but has its own problems.

    During the 1990s, Microsofts Encarta encyclopaedia, using content licensed
    from little-known Funk & Wagnalls, shook up the print industry.

    The Encyclopaedia Britannica struggled against Microsofts upstart, which
    was delivered on CD-ROM with many new consumer PCs.

    But the new decade saw Encarta move online, but on the web it has been
    overwhelmed by the community-generated Wikipedia, which has millions of
    articles to Encartas 50,000.

    <snip>

    But Wikipedia is not having things all its own way.

    Today the sites founder, Jimmy Wales, announced that is spin-off
    crowd-sourcing search engine, Wikia Search, will be shut down.

    -----------------------

    March 31, 2009
    Microsoft accepts defeat to Wikipedia and kills off Encarta
    Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter
    Times
    <http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/
    news/tech_and_web/article6008575.ece>

    A shorter URL for the above link:

    <http://tinyurl.com/dfzdel>

    Microsoft has announced it will kill off Encarta, its encyclopaedia
    software and website, later this year, which has crumbled in the face of
    competition from Wikipedia, the leading encyclopaedia on the web.

    After nearly 15 years since it arrived on shelves, Microsoft announced on
    its website that Encarta will stop being available by the end of the year
    in most places worldwide.

    <snip>

    The move is a tacit acceptance that Microsoft could no longer compete with
    the overwhelming popularity of Wikipedia, the free online website that
    launched in 2001. In January, Wikipedia got 97 per cent of the visits that
    web users in the US made to online encyclopaedias, according to Hitwise,
    the internet tracking company. Encarta trailed in second, with 1.27 per
    cent.

    -----------------------

    The complete articles may be read at the URLs provided for each.

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