79-584: Microsoft Encarta is a discontinued digital multimedia encyclopedia and search engine published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD , it was also available online via annual subscription, although later articles could also be viewed for free online with advertisements. By 2008, the complete English version, Encarta Premium , consisted of more than 62,000 articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive content, timelines, maps, atlases and homework tools. Microsoft published similar encyclopedias under
158-638: A CD-ROM that it sent to MSN subscribers in the fall of 1996. When inserted, the CD-ROM opened to the ambitious and flashy 'MSN Preview', an interactive video-based experience that introduced current and prospective subscribers to the new version of MSN and described the features of the MSN 2.0 software. The MSN Preview was filmed at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle and was formatted as a guided tour of
237-456: A Homework Center and Chart Maker . Encarta 's Visual Browser , available since the 2004 version, presented a user with a list of related topics making them more discoverable. A collection of 32 Discovery Channel videos were also later added. Encarta 2005 introduced another program called Encarta Kids aimed at children to make learning fun. Encarta also included a trivia game called "MindMaze" (accessible through Ctrl+Z) in which
316-483: A Windows desktop icon and sign-in screen that, upon dial-up connection and member authentication, launched an artificial folder-like graphical user interface integrated into the Windows Explorer file management program, with a home page named 'MSN Central'. Categories on MSN appeared like folders in the file system. The interface was designed by Clement Mok and employed high color graphics. MSN
395-417: A mock premiere event for the new MSN. It was hosted by a witty and sarcastic character named 'Michael' who welcomed viewers outside of the theater and then guided them through the theater to meet several other characters, each of whom represented one of the channels of MSN 2.0's 'On Stage' area, the main platform for interactive multimedia content in MSN 2.0. A handful of uncredited actors appeared in
474-491: A planetarium , but instead had a small interactive constellation -only map. In addition to database generated maps, many other illustrative maps in Encarta ("Historical Maps") were drawn by artists. Some more advanced maps were interactive : for example, the large African map for Africana could display information such as political boundaries or the distribution of African flora . Robert McHenry , while Editor-in-Chief of
553-554: A brief period a separate product known as Encarta Africana which was an encyclopedia of black history and culture. Starting with the 2001 version, it was integrated into the main Encarta Reference Suite. Encarta 2002 and onward featured 3D Virtual Tours of ancient structures, for example the Acropolis ; 2D panoramic images of world wonders or major cities; and a virtual flight feature which allowed users to fly
632-522: A feature of Microsoft Student. Although it was possible to purchase only the Encarta encyclopedia separately, Microsoft Student bundles together Encarta Premium with Microsoft Math (a graphing-calculator program) and Learning Essentials, an add-in which provides templates for Microsoft Office . In addition, the Deluxe and Reference Library editions were discontinued: absorbed into a new, more comprehensive Premium package. Encarta 's user interface
711-448: A global geographic information system database on demand. When a user used the copy and paste function of Microsoft Windows on Encarta on more than five words, Encarta automatically appended a copyright boilerplate message after the paste. Early in 2005, Encarta's editor-in-chief at the time, Gary Alt, announced that the online Encarta started to allow users to suggest changes to existing articles. Encarta 's content
790-493: A multimedia encyclopedia. Encarta was able to use various Microsoft technologies because it was extensible with software components for displaying unique types of multimedia information. For example, a snap in map engine is adapted from its MapPoint software. The hypertext and search engine used by Encarta also powered Microsoft Bookshelf . Encarta used database technologies to generate much of its multimedia content. For example, Encarta generated each zoomable map from
869-425: A new program known as the 'MSN Program Viewer.' The service was promoted to existing MSN subscribers beginning October 10, 1996; the general release followed on December 10, 1996. Microsoft promoted MSN 2.0 with a series of advertisements and promotional materials describing the service with the phrase, "Every new universe begins with a big bang." The company offered the initial release of the new MSN 2.0 service on
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#1732765268681948-404: A partnership between Microsoft and NBC ; and Slate , an online magazine focused on politics and current events. Both websites were available to all Internet users and still exist today, although they are no longer owned by Microsoft. Also integrated into MSN 2.0 shortly after its launch was Microsoft's popular Internet Gaming Zone , which later became MSN Games . Interactive multimedia content
1027-469: A program called MSN Explorer. This program is similar to the early MSN Program Viewer in that it provides access to MSN websites, email , instant messaging , and other content on top of a web browser (an Internet Explorer shell ) based on the Trident layout engine . MSN Explorer is similar to AOL Desktop , which also has a built-in email client and provides access to content for AOL members. Upon
1106-418: A single word. This is useful when combinations of key presses are meaningful, and is sometimes used for passing the status of modifier keys on a keyboard (such as shift and control). But it does not scale to support more keys than the number of bits in a single byte or word. Devices with many switches (such as a computer keyboard ) usually arrange these switches in a scan matrix, with the individual switches on
1185-549: A switch is pressed, released, and pressed again. This polling can be done by a specialized processor in the device to prevent burdening the main CPU . When a new symbol has been entered, the device typically sends an interrupt , in a specialized format, so that the CPU can read it. For devices with only a few switches (such as the buttons on a joystick ), the status of each can be encoded as bits (usually 0 for released and 1 for pressed) in
1264-505: A virtual airplane over a coarsely generated artificial landscape area. Version 2002 also introduced the ability to install the entire encyclopedia locally to the hard disk drive to prevent frequent swapping of discs, and it updated far more often than its predecessors, with a rate of nearly 3–4 updates per week compared to the monthly updates that were used in prior versions of Encarta. Encarta 2003 incorporated literature guides and book summaries, foreign language translation dictionaries,
1343-697: A year in the U.S., also costing 99 euros in European countries like Germany and France. In the past, Premium could be obtained by American customers by acquiring DSL through one of MSN's partners, such as Verizon or Qwest (now merged with CenturyLink ) in the United States or Bell Internet in Canada . Microsoft also offered premium services with Verizon through the Windows Live brand name beginning in 2006. MSN Premium provided through Verizon
1422-490: Is a subscription service provided by Microsoft that combines a number of different Internet services , along with firewall and anti-virus software provided by McAfee and Spy Sweeper , into a premium version of MSN Explorer. In order to use MSN Premium, users subscribe to the service through get.msn.com. Alternatively, MSN Premium can be purchased directly from the Microsoft Store and (as of 2022) costs $ 99 for
1501-452: Is an Internet service provider operated by Microsoft in the United States and formerly also in several other countries. Originally named The Microsoft Network , it debuted as a proprietary online service on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of Windows 95 . In 1996 and 1997, a revised web-based version of the ISP was an early experiment at interactive multimedia content on
1580-526: Is information represented as a string of discrete symbols, each of which can take on one of only a finite number of values from some alphabet , such as letters or digits. An example is a text document , which consists of a string of alphanumeric characters . The most common form of digital data in modern information systems is binary data , which is represented by a string of binary digits (bits) each of which can have one of two values, either 0 or 1. Digital data can be contrasted with analog data , which
1659-436: Is rather simpler than conversion of continuous or analog information to digital. Instead of sampling and quantization as in analog-to-digital conversion , such techniques as polling and encoding are used. A symbol input device usually consists of a group of switches that are polled at regular intervals to see which switches are switched. Data will be lost if, within a single polling interval, two switches are pressed, or
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#17327652686811738-581: Is represented by a value from a continuous range of real numbers . Analog data is transmitted by an analog signal , which not only takes on continuous values but can vary continuously with time, a continuous real-valued function of time. An example is the air pressure variation in a sound wave . The word digital comes from the same source as the words digit and digitus (the Latin word for finger ), as fingers are often used for counting. Mathematician George Stibitz of Bell Telephone Laboratories used
1817-561: The Encyclopædia Britannica , criticized Encarta for differences in factual content between national versions of Encarta , accusing Microsoft of "pandering to local prejudices" instead of presenting subjects objectively. An article written by Bill Gates addressed the nature of writing encyclopedias for different regions. Before the emergence of the World Wide Web for information browsing, Microsoft recognized
1896-613: The Brazilian Portuguese version was introduced in 1999 and suspended in 2002. The Spanish version was somewhat smaller than the English one, at 42,000 articles. In 2000, the full Encarta content became available on the World Wide Web to subscribers, with a subset available for free to anyone. In 2006, Websters Multimedia, a Bellevue, Washington subsidiary of London-based Websters International Publishers, took over maintenance of Encarta from Microsoft. The last version
1975-542: The Encarta trademark in various languages, including German , French , Spanish , Dutch , Italian , Portuguese and Japanese . Localized versions contained contents licensed from national sources and different amounts of content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch-language version had content from the Dutch Winkler Prins encyclopedia. In March 2009, Microsoft announced it
2054-550: The Internet . Microsoft renamed the service MSN Internet Access in 1998, focusing its main ' MSN ' brand on its web portal of the same name, MSN .com. Today, the company still provides dial-up Internet access under the name 'MSN Dial-up' for those who cannot access high-speed broadband . For several years, MSN was the second largest dial-up ISP in the United States behind longtime leader AOL , but very few people in
2133-493: The MSN Messenger Service for instant messaging was launched in 1999. Unlike the 'Friends Online' service bundled with MSN 2.5 that required an MSN membership, anyone with a free Microsoft Passport or Hotmail account could use MSN Messenger. With the release of Windows XP in 2001 (which also brought with it Internet Explorer 6 .0), Microsoft began to offer content for MSN Internet Access subscribers through
2212-593: The Internet during 1996 and 1997 proved to be ahead of its time, and the MSN 2.0 service was not as successful as Microsoft initially hoped. The company returned to the drawing board for its next MSN release. In 1997, after abandoning the interactive multimedia format, the MSN service was again refocused, this time as a more traditional Internet access service. With the release of MSN 2.5 ( code named 'Metro' and sometimes referred to in marketing materials as 'MSN Premier') in late 1997, some exclusive MSN branded content
2291-589: The MSN Parental Controls menu options with links to the newer Windows Live Family Safety feature. Microsoft began rolling out MSN version 10 in November 2009, following the release of Windows 7 . Features included full compatibility with Internet Explorer 8 , an integrated spell checker, and the ability to exclude MSN Messenger from the installation. Version 10.2 was released in 2011, including photo email integration with SkyDrive (now OneDrive ),
2370-530: The MSN Preview, including then-unknown actress Anna Faris , who represented 'Channel 5', which was described as " media , zines , attitude "; it was targeted at Generation X and college -age members. The preview also included its own jazz and pop music loop that played during the installation process. Once installed, members accessed MSN content through the MSN Program Viewer, which
2449-528: The MSN shows approach was unique and innovative, the content was not easily accessible by members with low-end computers and slower dial-up connections. High-speed Internet access was not widely available at the time, and some users subscribed to monthly dial-up plans that limited the number of hours during which they were allowed to access the service. The MSN 2.0 software was also unstable and would often quit unexpectedly. In addition to MSN 2.0's speed and stability issues, existing MSN subscribers were concerned
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2528-416: The U.S. still rely on dial-up. Along with dial-up service, MSN provides its subscribers with an @msn.com email account to use with Outlook.com and security software such as firewall and anti-virus programs. Alongside MSN Dial-up, Microsoft also offer these as a standalone subscription service for users with broadband Internet access around the world, named MSN Premium . The concept for MSN
2607-418: The ability to include photos or a photo slideshow with a link so others can download a copy for themselves, and customizable toolbar button groups. Version 10.5 added minor improvements to the MSN software; most notably Microsoft changed its user agent to disguise it as a newer web browser in order to bypass 'outdated browser' warning messages from some websites. MSN Explorer 11 is the current version, which
2686-446: The computer industry. Encarta also supported closed captioning for the hearing impaired. A separate program, called Encarta Research Organizer was included in early versions for gathering and organizing information and constructing a Word document-based report. Later versions included Encarta Researcher , a browser plugin to organize information from Encarta articles and web pages into research projects. Content copied from Encarta
2765-509: The edition. Some articles (usually about 2,000) were updated to reflect important changes or events. When the update period expired, an advertisement prompting to upgrade to the new version was displayed to the user occasionally. The editors of PC Gamer US nominated Microsoft Encarta '95 for their 1994 "Best Educational Product" award, although it lost to the CD-ROM adaptation of The Way Things Work . Digital data Digital data , in information theory and information systems ,
2844-441: The entire lifecycle from 'birth' to the destruction of the data. All digital information possesses common properties that distinguish it from analog data with respect to communications: Even though digital signals are generally associated with the binary electronic digital systems used in modern electronics and computing, digital systems are actually ancient, and need not be binary or electronic. MSN Dial-up MSN Dial-up
2923-932: The exception of Encarta Japan which was discontinued on December 31, 2009. Existing MSN Encarta Premium (part of MSN Premium ) subscribers were refunded. The demise of Encarta was widely attributed to competition from the free and user-generated Misplaced Pages , which grew to be larger than Encarta from its early beginnings in 2001 due to the popularization by web search services like Google . Encarta 's standard edition included approximately 50,000 articles, with additional images, videos and sounds. The premium editions contained over 62,000 articles and other multimedia content, such as 25,000 pictures and illustrations, over 300 videos and animations, and an interactive atlas with 1.8 million locations. Its articles were integrated with multimedia content and could include links to websites selected by its editors. Encarta 's articles in general were less lengthy and more summarized than
3002-481: The globe surface or in a tabular form, different sized cities, various geological or human-made features and reference lines in a map. The maps contained hyperlinks to related articles ("Map Trek") and also supported a "Dynamic Sensor" that provides the latitude , longitude , place name , population and local time for any point on the globe. Encarta also generated a visible-light moon atlas with names of major craters and hyperlinks. However, it did not include
3081-409: The importance of having an engine that supported a multimedia markup language , full text search, and extensibility using software objects. The hypertext display, hyperlinking and search software was created by a team of CD-ROM Division developers in the late 1980s who designed it as a generalized engine for uses as diverse as interactive help , document management systems and as ambitious as
3160-408: The intersections of x and y lines. When a switch is pressed, it connects the corresponding x and y lines together. Polling (often called scanning in this case) is done by activating each x line in sequence and detecting which y lines then have a signal , thus which keys are pressed. When the keyboard processor detects that a key has changed state, it sends a signal to the CPU indicating the scan code of
3239-472: The introduction of Internet Explorer 4.0 . MSN also launched 'Friends Online', a predecessor to the MSN Messenger Service that allowed members to add each other as friends, see each other's online presence and send instant messages to one another. Accompanying the MSN Program Viewer in MSN 2.5 was 'MSN Quick Launch', an icon inside the Windows notification area . Like the MSN Program Viewer in MSN 2.0,
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3318-406: The key and its new state. The symbol is then encoded or converted into a number based on the status of modifier keys and the desired character encoding . A custom encoding can be used for a specific application with no loss of data. However, using a standard encoding such as ASCII is problematic if a symbol such as 'ß' needs to be converted but is not in the standard. It is estimated that in
3397-603: The late 1990s. Later that decade, Microsoft added content from Collier's Encyclopedia and New Merit Scholar's Encyclopedia from Macmillan into Encarta after purchasing them. Thus the final Microsoft Encarta can be considered the successor of the Funk and Wagnalls , Collier , and New Merit Scholar encyclopedias. None of these formerly successful encyclopedias remained in print for long after being merged into Encarta . Microsoft introduced several regional versions of Encarta localized for international markets. For example,
3476-495: The menu in MSN Quick Launch could be dynamically updated to guide members to updated MSN content and services. With the release of MSN 2.6 in 1998, Microsoft renamed the service 'MSN Internet Access', and the MSN Program Viewer was abandoned entirely in favor of the more familiar Internet Explorer. Another new version of the service, MSN Internet Access 5.0, was released along with Internet Explorer 5.0 in 1999. MSN 5.0
3555-574: The player explores a castle by answering questions whose answers can be found in the encyclopedia's articles. There was also a "Geography Quiz" and several other games and quizzes, some quizzes also in Encarta Kids . Until 2005, Encarta came in three primary software editions: Standard, Deluxe, and Reference Library (called Reference Suite until Encarta 2002) (price and features in that order). Beginning with Encarta 2006 , however, when Websters Multimedia took over its maintenance, Encarta became
3634-443: The printed version of Encyclopædia Britannica or the online Misplaced Pages. Like most multimedia encyclopedias, Encarta 's articles tended to provide an overview of the subject rather than an exhaustive coverage and can only be viewed one at a time. A sidebar could display alternative views, essays, journals or original materials relevant to the topic. For example, when reading about computers, it featured annals since 1967 of
3713-480: The release of MSN 2.0 in 1996, Microsoft renamed its original proprietary online service 'MSN Classic'. Microsoft eventually shut down any remaining access to the MSN Classic service in 1998. In 1996, in response to the increasing relevancy and rapid growth of the World Wide Web , Microsoft created a new version of MSN, called 'MSN 2.0', which combined access to the Internet with web-based multimedia content in
3792-590: The service of call centers around the world. Among the countries are the Philippines (technical and customer service), El Salvador (technical and customer support for Spanish -speaking customers), and India (customer service). In 2007, Microsoft set up a research and development center for MSN China , based in Shanghai 's Zizhu Science Park, which hosts technical support for MSN services. For customers with high-speed broadband Internet access , MSN Premium
3871-603: The sign-up was done through an 800- (toll-free) phone number which assigned to the user PC an internal IP address of SITA -NET ( Société internationale de télécommunication aéronautique ), in the IP range 57.0.0.0/8, giving the user access to all of the SITA network equipment (so, not only the SITA-managed server involved in the MSN account registration process). MSN has many offices worldwide for national customer support. It utilizes
3950-462: The software began requiring a user to have a Microsoft account , though depending on the version, it may or may not require an active subscription to other MSN services. The interface also includes many Flash animations. Version 9.5 added compatibility with Windows Vista . Version 9.6 was released in June 2008 and included revisions necessary for a newer mailbox synchronization technology and to replace
4029-484: The software company struck a non-exclusive rights deal with the publishers of the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia , and considered a rewrite of the material. Following the successes of Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia (1989; published by Britannica ) and The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (1992), Microsoft initiated their multimedia-encyclopedia project under the internal codename "Gandalf". In 1993, "Gandalf"
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#17327652686814108-542: The software in 2002 in favor of a version only available with MSN dial-up and premium subscriptions. Versions of MSN Explorer later than 7.5 require a paid subscription, but it is possible to use another Internet service provider while accessing content provided through the MSN Explorer software. The last free version of the MSN software also remained available for download for some time. MSN versions 8 and 9 were released in 2002 and 2004 respectively. As of MSN version 9,
4187-448: The standard version of Hotmail in 2008, but with additional storage capacity compared to free Hotmail users. Microsoft phased out Hotmail and replaced it with Outlook.com in 2013, but MSN subscribers still receive @msn.com email addresses to use with the service ad-free. Former members can continue to use those addresses with Outlook.com after ending their subscriptions. An early pre-release version of MSN Explorer, labeled version 1.1,
4266-494: The transition to MSN 2.0 would break up communities that were established via the MSN Classic message boards and chat rooms. Their concerns were confirmed when Microsoft announced plans to close the entire MSN Classic service. As a result of all these issues, a website called 'The Official msNOT Hate Site' originated as a negative response to the new MSN 2.0 software. The website claimed Microsoft patently ignored feedback from concerned members and censored anyone who spoke out against
4345-401: The transition to MSN Explorer, email for MSN members was integrated into Microsoft's Hotmail architecture and could be accessed from the web the same way as any other Hotmail account. MSN Explorer provided a user interface for navigating one's @msn.com email inbox and folders, also known as 'MSN Mail', until the migration of Hotmail to the Windows Live brand. MSN subscribers were upgraded to
4424-447: The upgrade; it further charged the company's handling of the transition to MSN 2.0 was "insensitive and ethically questionable." Microsoft denied it attempted to silence those who expressed concern about the upgrade. The website also mocked the music loop that played during the MSN 2.0 installation process because it repeated the phrase "too stupid to stop." Ultimately, the ambitious use of web-based and interactive multimedia content on
4503-402: The visual style of Windows XP and utilized relatively responsive animations that would not become commonplace in web browsers until HTML5 came along several years later. Microsoft began referring to the MSN Explorer software as simply 'MSN' beginning with version 7, an update that was rolled out shortly after the initial release of Windows XP. Microsoft halted development of the free edition of
4582-435: The word digital in reference to the fast electric pulses emitted by a device designed to aim and fire anti-aircraft guns in 1942. The term is most commonly used in computing and electronics , especially where real-world information is converted to binary numeric form as in digital audio and digital photography . Since symbols (for example, alphanumeric characters ) are not continuous, representing symbols digitally
4661-580: The world. In Canada , MSN partnered with Bell Sympatico (the ISP division of Bell Canada ) creating 'Sympatico / MSN'. In Australia , Microsoft originally partnered with Telstra in 1995 with MSN branded locally as 'OnAustralia'; when Microsoft withdrew from the joint venture the following year, Telstra went on to assume 100% ownership and rebrand the service as BigPond . In Mexico , MSN partnered with Telmex Prodigy creating 'Prodigy / MSN'. An affiliation with Xtra , Telecom New Zealand 's Internet provider, known as XtraMSN ended in 2006. In Italy
4740-470: The year 1986, less than 1% of the world's technological capacity to store information was digital and in 2007 it was already 94%. The year 2002 is assumed to be the year when humankind was able to store more information in digital than in analog format (the "beginning of the digital age "). Digital data come in these three states: data at rest , data in transit , and data in use . The confidentiality, integrity, and availability have to be managed during
4819-624: Was Encarta Premium 2009, released in August 2008. Microsoft announced in April 2009 that it would cease to sell Microsoft Student and all editions of Encarta Premium software products worldwide by June 2009, citing changes in the way people seek information, and in the traditional encyclopedia and reference material market, as the key reasons behind the termination. Updates for Encarta were offered until October 2009. Additionally, MSN Encarta web sites were discontinued around October 31, 2009, with
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#17327652686814898-560: Was a dial-up client interface to Microsoft's pay-for-access online services for Mac users. The software was, in some respects, comparable to the AOL dial-up client given its channel-based interface, built-in chat and instant messaging capabilities, parental controls, and ability to accommodate multiple screen names. It used the Tasman layout engine made for the Mac edition of Internet Explorer 5 . It
4977-605: Was accessible using a conversational interface on Windows Live Messenger via the MSN Bot "Encarta Instant Answers". The bot could answer many encyclopedia related questions directly in the IM window. It used short sentences from the Encarta website, and sometimes displays full articles in the Internet Explorer -based browser on the right. It also could complete simple mathematical and advanced algebra problems. This service
5056-468: Was also available in German, Spanish, French and Japanese. Each summer Microsoft published a new version of Encarta . However, despite the inclusion of news-related and some supplementary articles, Encarta 's contents had not been changed substantially in its later years. Besides the yearly update, the installed offline copy could be updated over the Internet for a certain period for free depending on
5135-490: Was appended with a copyright boilerplate message after the selection. The user interface allowed for viewing content with only images, videos, sounds, animations, 360-degree views, virtual tours, charts and tables or only interactives. Encarta was originally available for sale on 1–5 CD-ROMs or a DVD. Some new PCs were shipped with an OEM edition of Encarta. Encarta 2000 and later had "Map Treks", which were tours of geographic features and concepts. Microsoft also had for
5214-571: Was based around email , chat rooms (which were branded MSN Chat and moved to the standard IRC protocol), and newsgroups (which were moved to Usenet from a proprietary architecture), while a 'Find' section was dedicated to searching MSN content and the rest of the Internet; it also provided a calendar of upcoming events and new shows on MSN. The new content made extensive use of multimedia and interactive features, including VBScript and early implementations of Macromedia Shockwave Flash (originally called 'FutureSplash') for animations. While
5293-506: Was created by the Advanced Technology Group at Microsoft, headed by Nathan Myhrvold . MSN was originally conceived as a subscription-based dial-up online service and proprietary content provider like America Online or CompuServe . Then officially known as 'The Microsoft Network', version 1.0 of the service launched along with Windows 95 on August 24, 1995. The Microsoft Network was originally presented through
5372-480: Was debate in the media as to whether MSN would be an 'Internet killer', and some companies hedged their bets for the first year, creating content both on MSN and the World Wide Web . However, MSN launched too late to be a real threat to the web. Following Bill Gates ' internal 'Internet Tidal Wave memo', which refocused Microsoft to be Internet-centric, MSN began to move its content to the web and promote itself more actively as an Internet service provider . Following
5451-556: Was discontinued in March 2005. After the discontinuation of MSN for Mac OS X, Microsoft continued offering its Microsoft Messenger for Mac software, an instant messaging -only client that required only a free Microsoft account for use. As mentioned previously, Skype replaced Messenger in 2013. Microsoft has extended its MSN dial-up Internet access service beyond the United States since 1995, partnering with various telecommunications companies to provide service in numerous areas around
5530-551: Was discontinuing both the Encarta disc and online versions. The MSN Encarta site was closed on October 31, 2009, in all countries except Japan, where it was closed on December 31, 2009. Microsoft continued to operate the Encarta online dictionary until 2011. In 1985, Microsoft attempted to establish a partnership with Encyclopædia Britannica to create a CD-ROM version of their publication. Since their management felt it would not fit in with their traditional print-based offerings, Britannica rejected Microsoft's offer. By 1989,
5609-407: Was essentially an animated, stylized and streamlined interface on top of an Internet Explorer 3 .0 web browser. When members signed in, they would be presented with several different 'Channels', which were categories for the various types of content available on MSN. These channels included new services that launched in 1996 such as msnbc.com , a news website now known as NBCNews.com that began as
5688-401: Was included with Windows 95 installations and promoted through Windows and other Microsoft software released at the time. Product support and discussion was offered through the MSN service, as well as information such as news and weather, basic email capabilities, chat rooms , and message boards similar to newsgroups . It also offered access to the Internet via Internet Explorer . There
5767-472: Was largely identical to MSN 2.6, aside from offering the newer version of the browser. Also in 1998, Microsoft relaunched its Microsoft Internet Start web portal as MSN .com and began to focus on offering services under the 'MSN' brand name to users of other Internet service providers. Building on the success of MSN's web-based email service, Hotmail (which was acquired by Microsoft in December 1997),
5846-435: Was officially launched as Encarta ; the name was created for Microsoft by an advertising agency. Encarta cost $ 395 upon release, although it soon dropped to $ 99, and was often bundled into the price of a new computer purchase. The text of Funk & Wagnalls served as the basis of its first edition; Funk & Wagnalls continued to publish revised editions for several years independently of Encarta , but ceased printing in
5925-455: Was originally included with a development build of Windows XP . The final release, MSN Explorer version 6.0 (officially numbered to follow the last release of the older MSN 5.0 software), was built into Windows XP with its release in October 2001. Anyone who used Windows XP could choose to use MSN Explorer regardless of their MSN membership status. The user interface for MSN Explorer matched
6004-516: Was presented in a TV-like format, dubbed MSN shows, as part of the 'On Stage' section. The many shows and sites included an interactive online nightly game show called 'Netwits', a snarky website addressing women's issues called 'UnderWire', and a regular celebrity interview and web-surfing session called 'One Click Away'. These new destinations supplemented other Microsoft web-based services such as CarPoint and Expedia , which were branded within MSN as 'Essentials'. An additional 'Communicate' section
6083-543: Was released in April 2014 and offers compatibility with Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 11 , adds tabbed browsing , and brings back a 'remember me' feature. The software still included an instant messaging client based on Microsoft's Messenger service, even though it had been phased out in favor of Skype since 2013. Subsequent releases of MSN 11 included updated email functionality to maintain compatibility with Outlook.com in version 11.5, and updated logos to match current MSN branding in version 11.6. MSN for Mac OS X
6162-635: Was shared with Microsoft Student, and was streamlined to reduce clutter with only a Search box which returned relevant results. However, it became no longer possible to simply browse all the encyclopedia articles alphabetically. The dynamic maps were generated with the same engine that powered Microsoft MapPoint software. The map was a virtual globe that one could freely rotate and magnify to any location down to major streets for big cities. The globe had multiple surfaces displaying political boundaries, physical landmarks, historical maps and statistical information. One could selectively display statistical values on
6241-556: Was still offered through the MSN Program Viewer, but the service primarily directed members to traditional text-based websites that anyone on the Internet could access, instead of interactive shows. Beginning with MSN 2.5, email service for MSN members was moved from a proprietary Microsoft Exchange environment that powered email for both MSN Classic and MSN 2.0, to standard POP3 and SMTP protocols that could be accessed via any Internet email program, including Microsoft's own Internet Mail and News , which became Outlook Express with
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