From its conception in 1993, Microsoft’s CD-based Encarta Encyclopedia has been educating our precocious middle schoolers, resourceful high schoolers, and bored dads with its bright visuals, contemporary typography, and that oh so addictive Mindmaze, where taking a quick 25% chance paid off better than actually reading the question. The videos, the audio clips, the timeline, Encarta was a trove of media that was an invaluable source of information for any kind of research paper….

Until a little something called Wikipedia came along. While the level of editorial quality, trustworthiness, and media availability was indeed truncated with the new kid on the block, it was impossible to contain the wildfire-like pace it spread at, and perhaps too soon, Encarta became no more than a passing thought of the past, a fond memory of those good ol’ 90s, where TVs were more than three inches thick, where books were made out of paper, and people paid for software.

Perhaps then, it is all too appropriate that Encarta will forever be immortalized in the annals of Wikipedia, quietly tucked away as one of the ever-increasing 2.8 million English articles (Encarta clocked in at just over 62,000). Oh Encarta, thanks to the timeless combination of your deftly-worded articles and the power of Word’s shift-F7, many hours that would have been spent researching and writing were saved for playing Red Alert and MarioKart 64.

We bid adieu to our old friend in October this year.

[source] via Reuters