Microsoft Encarta Retrospective

[@danwood_uk]

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[@cloerenjackson3699]

Psssssst... "Multimedia" has never been "the hottest word in technology". It has almost no importance except to Amiga fans who rely on abstract nouns to explain their love of the Amiga because there is no objective argument. It's purely a case of "I like this". Amiga fans falsely blame "marketing* for the Amiga's failure. Marketing though could have cottoned on to the attraction of the Amiga to its fans and used "Easy satisfaction for untalented poor people" for a slogan.

[@nirv]

As a person who has been online since 1995, I find it disgusting you're pushing VPNs on people. Nobody needs VPNs. VPNs are snake oil. What are you doing, dude? How do you sleep at night? Nope. You're lower than whale dung.

[@Aranimda]

I like Encarta. You can feel the pride that the Encarta team had of their product. A summary of the human knowledge just on a single CD/DVD complete with animations, video and sound. A really nice product. And while nothing can beat the Wikipedia with it's broadness and depth of articles, I still miss the multimedia features a bit there.

[@GeordiLaForgery]

The 2001 interface still looks great and functional. MS have a real tenacity to create great things and then let it flop.

[@dawoodwilliams3652]

Not as much as Google though

[@totoroben]

I don't think this flopped as much as it became irrelevant.

[@bchristian85]

@@totoroben It's a little of both. I didn't like the latter versions of Encarta and they lacked a lot of the charm that it had in its prime. One thing about Encarta in its prime is that it was simply fun to use and that wasn't the case anymore in it's final few editions. Unfortunately, Microsoft didn't foresee that Wikipedia would make the Encarta model obsolete. They have a habit of being too late to embrace changing trends, and then when they do, they royally f it up.

[@mind-of-neo]

Literally every corporation does it, it's capitalism.. the profit motive motivates people to create great ideas, but scrap them as soon as something more profitable comes along

[@GlennDavey]

7:41 When you say it looks familiar, I probably played every single one of these media items. I consumed Encarta and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and other multimedia programs like those because we had so little, but I learned a LOT about the world.

[@Tall_Order]

It truly was an amazing time back then for computers. If only we could still be Wowed like that today. I suppose for some people VR may have that effect. I always spent my lunch hour in the school media center messing with the macs.

[@Tall_Order]

I usually didn't eat lunch at school anyway. The food was terrible and I needed to lose weight anyway.

[@kirishima638]

I know what you mean. I’m a developer working with the latest tech every day. It doesn’t excite me anymore. It’s too good.

[@ConradMcBad]

This is such a stark reminder of what we have lost over the last 15 year rise of the algorithm - curation. You have to know what you're looking for these days - you can't just sit down and explore 'worthwhile' content, you just get served up what is calculated to give the highest possibility of keeping you on the platform. I really miss the optimism and pioneering spirit of the early internet.

[@GlennDavey]

"I have a dream, that one day my four little children, will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character..." "You don't understand, Billy was a salesman..." "Good morning..." "I'm an American Black Bear. Did you know I'm on the endangered species list? Let's see what else you know!" "You owe me, a banana!" "So you wanna play some basketball..." "Who knows, what evil, lurks in the hearts of men, the shadow knows! Mmhmhmhmhmhmh" Literally all off by heart. I'm 39. Those quotes are imprinted on my brain from childhood.

[@Cuzjudd]

You are my warm blanket of nostalgia Dan. Love your work

[@koshisunuwarrai]

I discovered Encarta 2008 version during my school days. and it really helped me with my projects and research.

[@diogeneslantern18]

Encarta was the SHIT back in the day. Mind Maze was my jam.

[@directive-4]

To be honest I could see it being useful even today as I miss having a more organised information source. As great as Wikipedia is, I find it very easy to lose focus and end up jumping from one thing to another.

[@skycloud4802]

I think it's really nice having that offline content. I remember back then feeling somehow 'connected' to the world, even though I rarely had my parents computer hooked up to the internet. It was because all the CD roms like Space and Encarta 99 allowed me to research for my homework or explore my curiosity for science and culture. Even without the web, I felt there was enough to search the program and find to be a useful tool of education. Today for smartphones, I can see it would be handy to have a pocket encyclopedia not tied to the internet. Whether that be to avoid sneaky data roaming charges, dodging misinformation, reducing cookie trackers, or simply to avoid the distractions of the internet. There's lots of reasons to make another one.

[@directive-4]

@@skycloud4802 I totally agree.

[@WindowsOnWindows]

Encarta is such as nostalgic piece of software. It's a shame the Internet has made this sort of thing redundant, as it definitely has its own charm!

[@wsgut123]

Have fond memories of going through Encarta 2002. It’s always fun to go back to it, it was such an engaging product, and can be more fun than going on Wikipedia.

[@HAGSLAB]

I just loved browsing around in Microsoft Encarta!

[@GlennDavey]

I love the vertical blinds in the background. I know that's probably just your house mate, but it does help to set the scene for me using this at home in the 90's as a kid.

[@cedarstuff]

Whenever I see a CD in a caddy case, I'm instantly transported back to my senior school library.

[@thegamechanger7157]

Memories. It's all coming back to me now

[@NALTOdeluxe]

Ah Encarta. Simpler times.

[@RetroTechorDie]

I remember being in awe of Encarta when I first used it.

[@dawoodwilliams3652]

Man i remember spending hours on Encarta, which versions was it? I don't know, but i absolutely loved it and gained so much knowledge on history, war, science, geography, culture and so much more.

[@NoobixCube]

I've often thought that Encarta was the killer app that cemented Windows as the standard in the home. The Microsoft/IBM relationship had already ensured DOS and then Windows were entrenched in business, but that hadn't yet spilled over into the home, where Macs, Ataris, and Amigas ruled the roost. Parents being convinced kids could use Encarta for their school work ended up buying Windows PCs for home. There were, as Dan notes, other early encyclopedias on the other platforms, but they were terribly primitive looking compared to Encarta. Encarta had the look, the feel, and the marketing to win the mindshare of the shoppers.

[@cloerenjackson3699]

"There were, as Dan notes, other early encyclopedias on the other platforms" There were also other earlier encyclopediae on the PC. Arête Publishing's interactive version of the Academic American Encyclopedia featured illustrations, video and audio and was available on videodisk in 1982, years before the Amiga was even released.

[@DrGreenThumbNZL]

It was on Mac to...

[@P4tchimus]

Encarta was the absolute shit. I spent literally hours just trawling through it as a child. The little animations and clips and everything. There's something just magical about it. I think a lot of my interests stem from what I found in Encarta.

[@temptingraspberry829]

Especially the 3d virtual tours from the 2009 version. To this day, I can still remember Beaumaris Castle's theme.

[@hijo5966]

I'd thought that encarta kids and encarta premium would be featured. That's what I grew up with

[@airfixer9461]

I still run my Encarta 1994 once in a while on a vm or on a vintage box, still my favourite of them all

[@CrazyIWas742]

I honestly knew zero things about some of the stuff shown in your channel but it was really interesting to learn about them from your channel. Keep up the fantastic content!

[@drruncmd]

OMG! I remember the RM Nimbus computers! Later on in technology we had dual boot machines. Boot option 1 was windows 3.11 for workgroups networked and boot option 2 was windows 95 standalone not part of a network!!! Great video!!

[@marcp.]

As practical as Wikipedia may be today, it will never come close to the feelings this gave me.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

0:01 !!!!!! You have one of those CD caddies!!!!! In college in the 90s doing my computer course and the library computer had one of those. Years later when we finally upgraded our 386sx we got a CD drive but was just plane old drive, the caddie system always fascinated me.

[@atlanticx100]

The odd thing looking back, it is easy to forget on how much we rely upon the internet for information. Just imagine what would happen if the web was to vanish tomorrow.

[@SabretoothBarnacle]

I think my first experience of a multimedia PC was an RM Nimbus 486sx20 with a 1xCDROM caddy running Window 3.1. Ahhhh, those heady days of being wowed by such things😭

[@mrkitty777]

Yes, grumpy cat would approve, it was new and surprising and nowadays everything looks like just another commodity. Only minor improvements unlike the past when new technology like the Amiga was created.

[@ArturdeSousaRocha]

This actually reminded me how frustrating I sometimes found the terseness of printed encyclopedia articles, even though I obviously didn't have Wikipedia for comparison.

[@CoolDudeClem]

I remember when this blew my mind back in the mid 90's, I didn't know a computer could do those things! (I had an Amstrad CPC and a ZX spectrum at home, so I didn't have any exposure to PC's at the time except for at school). Later on I got a Windows 98 PC and I remember someone bought Encarta for me around 2002, but with the internet around, it just seemed irrelevant.

[@londongaz2]

Wow that Encarta 96 UI was really slick! Way ahead of its time.

[@Linuxpunk81]

My first cdrom encyclopedia I used was Compton's 95 with Patrick Stewart. I also eventually picked up Encarta 95 and 96. Great video

[@pb-doslegacy2020]

For me, the startup sound is always the greatest thing whenever I start the program.

[@thelovertunisia]

Oh man, you make my heart beat! Britannica 2000 and Encarta were my youth.

[@JaseEtheridge]

Arrrrrhhhhh my official nostalgia hit, from Mr Wood. :-) Great video as ever bud! You even had the CD-Rom drive with caddy to make it super on point. However no RM Nimbus? Back in my school days, we used to run a macro on MS-Word to get us a DOS window, then at lunch times and play 'prince of persia' or 'wacky racers'... mid to late 90's.

[@RonHelton]

I think it would be hard for the kids today to realize just how amazing this was at the time. I have several different versions in boxes here someplace.

[@VandelayIndustries1982]

I had and still have Encarta 95 on cd. Love the Fast Show reference. Nicce

[@richardhaiku]

A great trip down memory lane thanks Dan. Encarta 95 was my Encarta and loved exploring all the media on there, blew my mind coming from the Spectrum and Amiga. That final version looked terrible, seems like they just didn't care any more and just dumped all the content into folders! As great as Wiki is it doesn't have the fun exploratory nature of Encarta somehow, does anyone know of a web based encyclopedia that has more of an Encarta kind of vibe?

[@skycloud4802]

I'm not sure, but it there is I'd also like to know as well.

[@tamiranirwan9966]

i was very fond of encarta back then. sweet memories

[@techwizpc4484]

What I used was World Book 99. Fun times reading stuff on there and watching animations.

[@WhatwouldRoddyPiperdo]

Memories man. I remember in year 7 we had to do a project in ICT using Encarta as a reference & I chose Bastard swords my teacher just laughed and said ok smartarse. Great memory.

[@thefifthdoctor6780]

Ahhh my childhood right here

[@MrGencyExit64]

That computer case... iconic. I had that exact model, though I couldn't even tell you who manufactured it.

[@brandonupchurch7628]

I think we had a version of Encarta that was bundled with a Packard Bell machine we had, I wasn't quite in elementary school yet, but I think my brother got a copy of Encarta 2000 from school from some grant they got or something.

[@skycloud4802]

Same. We had our 99 Encarta bundled with a lot of other stuff with Packard Bell as well. What else did you get? I think there was a Space disk too, but I'm struggling to remember what else.

[@brandonupchurch7628]

I think we may have had a few versions, we had several Packard Bell machines, my dad had a Pentium 60 machine, that came with Encarta 94? I think and 3D Body and Mega Race. Then his Pentium 150 machine later on had a version of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and Comix Zone and Echo the Dolphin. My brother and Sister had identical Celeron 300 machines and I think they may have came with Encarta 98, Frontpage 98, a version of Works, and Microsoft Word, and the Best of Windows Entertainment Pack.

[@mikeyandwho]

Greta video Dan ! Just think if Encarta was still going, you'd be in it !

[@spearPYN]

Great episode! I love when you cover besides Amiga also PC's in the 90s. I sold my Amiga 500 in 92 and purchased PC so DOS and Windows was my thing in the 90s.

[@smakfu1375]

I still keep a Windows 3.11 DosBox profile with Encarta 94 installed (w/ISO image), so I can occasionally go back and check it out.

[@AutistCat]

The orbit simulator is by far the most memorable part of Encarta to me.

[@mind-of-neo]

Encarta is one of the most beautiful pieces of software ever

[@NALTOdeluxe]

Loved this one, Dan.

[@bomboclaaatmang]

it was really lovely with sound clips , i managed to find some hiphop from waay back , it was really sweet blasting that through the speakers in the classroom :P ,

[@callmemarc]

I totally remember that Encarta 94 intro music/speech and the basketball video.

[@oneuptheextraman]

My family had a computer that came with encarta 96, and later, I got encarta 2000 for christmas (something I wanted). It came on several CDs, including an install CD, two encyclopedia CDs, a world Atlas CD, and a CD for just the dictionary, which you could install to the hard drive. I thought it was rather rad.

[@NeonEUC]

so board this sunday, tried youtube and you made a new vid.... you saved my sunday ;-)

[@GlennDavey]

You missed a version of Encarta with the Endangered Black Bear and the Monkey etc. Or maybe that's the one with the voices.

[@Abdullahs_World]

Encarta was fun, I used it in 2007 or 06. While I was in class 7 of school. That was Encarta 2004.

[@HomelessTechnology]

You must be around the same age as me. I have the same memory as you walking into the school library seeing a windows 3.1 mpc with Encarta 94 and saying I must use this! Also Dorling Kindersley's the way things work and other classics from that day I forgotten the name of lol.

[@nya798]

Wooow Encarta's interface is vastly different in its Spanish version, it's cool to see how it varies on other regions

Nostalgic.

[@jothain]

I like that timeline. Immediate Civilization vibe there 🙂

[@killercd7682]

You had contributions on there from leading experts in the field. I got unwell in 2007 and must have spent 6 months going through Encarta 2006 and reading articles like 'humane genome project', 'cell biology', 'astrophysics' etc by leading scientists. I still find some of the info unsurpassed today.

[@gamingjay141]

I miss Encarta. I used to explore it in the early 2000s.

[@eadweard.]

So many things here that have been cast aside as time marches on - beige computers, CD-ROM, Martin Luther King.

[@subclasshero6391]

I'd love to see your take on the DK software that was so ubiquitous in this era for kids. I keep meaning to grab them and get to spotting that stowaway (never did find the last one and it's haunted me), they really were something else. It's a shame that things like the DK products, Encarta and the others (Microsoft Dinosaurs anyone?) went away. They did have a value, especially the more focused ones. Wikipedia is great for what it is but it isn't the same. I'd love to see the ones set in a museum and labelled as VR put into actual VR. Could be a really fun experience.

[@whiskeyjuliet]

The Way Things Works (DK) is a staple of my childhood, also Stowaway!

[@subclasshero6391]

@@whiskeyjuliet Have you checked out the archive of their stuff online? Not sure if I can link on here but there's a collection or three labelled DK or Dorling Kindersley all with different bits. Stowaway and The Way Things Work were certainly in there with a couple of other gems like Castle Explorer.

[@ranchocommodorereef]

I've never heard of Microsoft Dinosaurs, but I looked it up and it sounds cool. My sister used to be interested in dinosaurs as a child in 2008 and she would have loved this, except it released way before she (b. 2001) and I (b. 1999) were born.

[@subclasshero6391]

@@ranchocommodorereef It was pretty cool, all way out of date now. The DK Dinosaur one was really good. I guess these days it's gone more to stuff like park builder games and educating through them but those old edutainment things were incredible fun.

[@ranchocommodorereef]

@@subclasshero6391 The edutainment stuff were definitely fun.

[@doityourself8315]

0:59 feels weird and scary the difference between those standards and how to they compare to today's where a low budget phone has a 2.5 GHz processor, 4 GB of ram and 128 GB of storage. The rate of evolution in tech is crazy.

[@GenGamesUniverse]

I think they should re-release Encarta

[@garyproffitt5941]

Those were the days in bygone times Dan Wood < 1992 >

[@nneeerrrd]

I wonder if Mr. Nimbus character in Rick and Morty is kind of homage to RM Nimbus computers? Both are very knowledgeable :)

[@thegroove2000]

Still looks good. WOW flashbacks.

[@thegroove2000]

I had that same monitor as well as they where one of the best highly rated CRTs.

[@AmigosRetroGaming]

Very interesting stuff, Dan!

[@prayushdave]

That was great video Dan. Truly nostalgic! I had one question if someone can answer, how can I download the 2009 version on my Windows Laptop?

[@zeng58]

i used it for homework i didn't know these were so damn expensive made my school alot easier

[@jonc-1989]

Encarta 98 Deluxe is the best version of Encarta in my opinion. Still have a big box copy

[@osirys]

Can someone make it into a website? I love me some nostalgia from time to time.

[@jeffreyjoshuarollin9554]

In my opinion Wikipedia has not yet surpassed Microsoft Encarta in its presentation (though it probably beats it for content in most ways). And I'm not known for praising Microsoft.

[@TheHjulius]

I think I used Microsoft Student when I worked at a school some years ago to for example register the kids absence, or atleast it´s looked like it.

[@Stilvoid]

Wow I'd forgotten how clean and usable Windows 95 was. Really apparent when you switched to your Win 11 machine how ugly it is now 😆

[@monotonehell]

Dan Wood Drinking Game. Take a shot every time Dan says, "as well."

[@turbinegraphics16]

I had encarta 95 on my first computer, I remember the Bill Gates article being a bit self serving.

[@gower1973]

Only brits are going to get that John Thompson reference, my favourite character was the American scientist that messed up all the experiments.

[@mehere3013]

I sold loads of there, encarta 95 was last one I sold

[@RWL2012]

Encarta 97 on a Swift Computers horizontal desktop running Windows 95 with a 166MHz Pentium I MMX CPU, 16MB of RAM, 2GB hard drive, 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive, BTC 16x max. CD-ROM drive, 2MB S3 Trio64 graphics card and an "Avance Sound Chip" sound card, with a Smile 15" CRT monitor and the 2x3" rounded rectangle driver speakers.

[@YearsOfLeadPoisoning]

lol is that Robert Webb with the encyclopedias

[@PSorin2000]

Where is Encarta 98 ???

[@kevinvanneste2500]

U remember it very well I was like 9 and had my first for my own pc and Encarta 96. Pentium 120mhz 16mb ram en 1200mb hdd funny how it evolved 😁

[@RCjam0]

great memories :)

[@samo9658]

I downloaded it, just in case the internet goes ka-put someday... To each their own

[@tooheystechgaming1977]

Brill video mate

[@cance7984]

0:09-0:10 and home.

[@otherreality]

i sill have a sealed copy of Encarta '98, I plan to fiddle around with it with my kids someday

[@mrkitty777]

Will become 💰💰💰 if kept sealed!

[@Biyoung]

A hacker is one that hacked model railroads of diffrent models too run togheter

[@nuclearnyanboi]

I have those very speakers

[@tomypower4898]

Pocahontas :Yes!!!!!!!!

[@Djformula]

Great video, nicccce

[@cabbitkisser2620]

back in the early to mid 90's. if a lot computer's back then had bundle software & encarta was one of them. now microsoft quit making the encarta software. i forgot when they did.

[@ProBloggerWorld]

Encarta was a great product. Then came Wikipedia, a collaborative effort.

[@Foebane72]

Encarta now is POINTLESS, OBSOLETE. Wikipedia killed it STONE DEAD. Get with the times, Dan!

[@Aranimda]

I got both Encarta 2005 and Wikipedia 2020 on my PC for the days that I don't have internet.

[@GlennDavey]

Lemmings was still better. And they went on to start the GTA series. So, no competition really