Encarta was born from Microsoft's internal project in the late 1980s. After being rejected by Encyclopædia Britannica , Microsoft licensed text from Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia for its initial 1993 release.
: Featured a virtual globe atlas (powered by MapPoint technology), dynamic timelines, and 360-degree virtual tours.
: Included thousands of photos, illustrations, music clips, videos, and interactive animations.
: After the encyclopedia was discontinued, the online dictionary remained accessible for free until 2011 . Discontinuation and Legacy
: It originally debuted at $395 , though this price quickly dropped to $99 as it became frequently bundled with new multimedia PCs.
Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from . While it was primarily a paid commercial product, limited free versions existed through the Encarta Concise Encyclopedia online and ad-supported web articles before its eventual discontinuation. Today, the software is considered abandonware and is often found for free on archival sites like Internet Archive . Historical Overview and Development
: Starting in 2000, a subset of the full encyclopedia was available for free online, supported by advertisements.