March 31st, 2009
Encarta dies, passes baton to Wikipedia
But why? I’ll admit now that Encarta hasn’t always been at the forefront of my mind when researching something; nor has it been a major part of my studies, life in general or search results on Google. Encarta still has a lot to give, even if I’m not the primary audience.
Things haven’t been updated on Encarta for a while, so you can probably feel the apathy and lethargic nature of the teams behind it; slowly chundering on, not even bothering to grease the wheels and just hope things will “work out”.
Wikipedia has taken over many of our lives, with those who contribute taking the role on seriously and working hard to making the online encyclopedia more accurate. But will it ever take over Wikipedia?
Yes. Because they’re closing down Encarta for good in late June.
Mary-Jo may well be a cynical old boot about Encarta, but as part of the younger generation, I remember when Encarta first came out on CD back in the ’90s. Along with my first computer, Encarta ‘97 was on of the first resources I used to learn about things for school projects, general searching and passing the time with.
Part of me hopes Encarta will still be around after they officially close it, even if it’s as an archive directory. There’s no need to remove the entire site. World events and news stories have been picked up by Wikipedia now for the last couple of years and remain editable. Some things never change, such as the colour “blue” will stay in civilisation for millions of years…
(unless for some reason blue becomes red, and that would be trippy).
Will you be shedding a tear for Encarta? I won’t, but that’s because I’m an emotionless, heartless fool. I will, however, miss it’s sentiments and the memories.
Zack Whittaker, the youngest in the ZDNet network, is a British student at the University of Kent, Canterbury, where he studies BA (Hons) Criminology and Social Policy. His insight into the next-generation is unique and first-hand, sharing his knowledge of the here and now but more so what's next and how to get there.
You can read his public biography and his work disclosures of his current and past industry affiliations.
Fire off an email if you feel like sharing a story or insight, or leave a voicemail. You can also follow him on Twitter to keep up to date with his ramblings.
Subscribe to iGeneration via Email alerts or RSS.
