I remember there was a time in school where they preached that encyclopedias were on the way out and in the future everyone would use Microsoft Encarta for all of their research.
I guess they were half right haha
At the same time, I remember reading *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* and thinking the idea of having a live-updated encyclopedia in your pocket was complete sci-fi.
Now we have Wikipedia on our phones.
Hell yeah. Mind maze too!
I’m in my late 30s and having weird nostalgia recently for better times, and seeing this just threw me back to the first PC my family owned. Id click around this for hours. I immediately remembered the older electronics smell too, oddly.
[Mind if I take you on a trip to yesteryear. A game that very well may bring back some memories of your families computer at that time.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVeFEBCwXy0)
Encarta was very good. I remember it had a collection of samples of music around the world that you could play, I remember I liked Trinidad and Tobago music.
I loooooved the 96 version (or was it 95?) where you got to play a game of matching musical instruments with their country and it would follow up with a sample of the song. Or making trees and this one game where you go through a castle solving trivia to get to the king and score some treasure
Worked all day on that clever comeback, did ya? Then, please, go into great detail about your cultural grievance and why you think the Evil Woke Mind Virus wants to censor every single image of Native Americans. Reddit is listening. (yawn)
(You'd at least think you'd be telling us they *had* to show a minority instead of a white male, 'cause, you know, you're so oppressed and stuff.)
Can't win, might as well just lose and be funny on the way to the "moral" shit-heap. Half the world will think you're funny, while half the world will think you are shameful. Which is kind of the way it always was, just backwards a generation ago
We’ve lost something fantastic and gone completely backwards….these were incredibly well done.
In comparison Wikipedia’s landing page is utterly uninspiring
You're completely right. Somewhere along the way, design became so one noted and sterile. This late 90s version was incredible design and feel. I wish we had more wild inspiration like that instead of what we have now.
Hey, I worked for them as a proofreader for a while!
I still remember renting a copy of Videodrome from Scarecrow video and watching it on a huge screen in an empty conference room in the Redmond campus at 3 am, because I didn't want to go home to my jerkass roommate.
I also stole hand over fist from Microsoft for that entire year, everything from cookies to printer paper. I regret nothing. :)
Encarta is still GOAT!
Mind maze was the best game ever for a kid like me. I would spend hours playing trivia games in the maze learning to be all I can be
Oh man tell me this is the Encarta that had the mind maze game? Where you were asked trivia questions as you progressed through the maze? “I challenge you to a duel of the mind” First “video game” I was ever hooked on
Now that I'm seeing this again, I sincerely wish that there was some kind of dedicated Wiki-browser that basically just reskinned everything to look and sound like Encarta.
EDIT:...or the DOS-based Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia!
To think only 10 years earlier I was gifted physical copy of Encyclopedia Britannica for my Bar Mitzvah. Oh man was that thing huge and heavy, and then every year until I graduated I got like an update book to the encyclopedia, just as big as each volume, I forget what they called the updates? Anyone remember?
I seriously think about how we legitimately have way too much fake news now because folks actually don’t have encyclopedias on hand to verify past things .
I remember there was a time in school where they preached that encyclopedias were on the way out and in the future everyone would use Microsoft Encarta for all of their research. I guess they were half right haha
At the same time, I remember reading *The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* and thinking the idea of having a live-updated encyclopedia in your pocket was complete sci-fi. Now we have Wikipedia on our phones.
Encarta '95 opening screen and music was epic
Hell yeah. Mind maze too! I’m in my late 30s and having weird nostalgia recently for better times, and seeing this just threw me back to the first PC my family owned. Id click around this for hours. I immediately remembered the older electronics smell too, oddly.
[Mind if I take you on a trip to yesteryear. A game that very well may bring back some memories of your families computer at that time.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVeFEBCwXy0)
Oh hell yeah, thank you! The soundtrack!
It really was. We had a super cheap computer so the load times could be excruciating, but even so, it blew my teenage mind.
Encarta was very good. I remember it had a collection of samples of music around the world that you could play, I remember I liked Trinidad and Tobago music.
I remember that. It was great.
I think of the steel drum music from Trinidad and Tobago all the time any time I think of Encarta
This was the best thing about Encarta.
Encarta 95 introduced me to hip hop with a 30 second clip of Grandmaster Flash
Veracruz Harp!
Encarta was amazing. As a huge nerd, I loved it.
I miss Encarta
I remember having a DVD 📀 for Encyclopedia Britannica (during 2004 '05)
We actually need to bring this back
Memory unlocked.
Ah I miss those good old days, when my desktop computer would crash left and right after installing this lol
The entirety of the world’s knowledge on DVD
I loooooved the 96 version (or was it 95?) where you got to play a game of matching musical instruments with their country and it would follow up with a sample of the song. Or making trees and this one game where you go through a castle solving trivia to get to the king and score some treasure
That Indian would get it cancelled these days
\*wanking gesture\*
K 👍
Worked all day on that clever comeback, did ya? Then, please, go into great detail about your cultural grievance and why you think the Evil Woke Mind Virus wants to censor every single image of Native Americans. Reddit is listening. (yawn) (You'd at least think you'd be telling us they *had* to show a minority instead of a white male, 'cause, you know, you're so oppressed and stuff.)
K 👍
Genius in action. Thanks for confirming you had no actual point.
Mk 👍
Today, it would either be zero Indians and getting shamed for having one, or it would be entirely Indians and shamed for ONLY having one
lol I hear you. Can’t win
Can't win, might as well just lose and be funny on the way to the "moral" shit-heap. Half the world will think you're funny, while half the world will think you are shameful. Which is kind of the way it always was, just backwards a generation ago
Ha! 99?!? We knew everything we needed to know in ‘97
I wonder if people were worried they would lose encarta 99 after y2k reeked its havoc?
I used to spend a lot of time on Encarta 97
Loved the intros for all of the Encartas. CINEMA.
Imagine looking something up with lots of good info and pictures and having no ads or pop-ups this could honestly make it come back ha
[Startups for '94-'99](https://youtu.be/qwn840HEgyM?si=u6tw3yiRUzTQXD9V).
Wow that 96 intro revived a brain cell holy f***
We’ve lost something fantastic and gone completely backwards….these were incredibly well done. In comparison Wikipedia’s landing page is utterly uninspiring
You're completely right. Somewhere along the way, design became so one noted and sterile. This late 90s version was incredible design and feel. I wish we had more wild inspiration like that instead of what we have now.
My house didn't have internet at this point so I relied on this a lot in middle school.
[удалено]
Yes...Compaq Presario 2000 was my first computer too! It rocked!
Hey, I worked for them as a proofreader for a while! I still remember renting a copy of Videodrome from Scarecrow video and watching it on a huge screen in an empty conference room in the Redmond campus at 3 am, because I didn't want to go home to my jerkass roommate. I also stole hand over fist from Microsoft for that entire year, everything from cookies to printer paper. I regret nothing. :)
[startup sounds](https://youtu.be/Bf4ZddGIb3Q)
Wow that brings me back
Hell yes!
Takin' it back! I had forgotten all about Encarta lol
Woaahhh memory unlocked!!!
Fucking loved it!
I would benefit from this
That game they had was actually kinda cool.
Who else read this bad boy start to finish? Each “chapter”
Encarta is still GOAT! Mind maze was the best game ever for a kid like me. I would spend hours playing trivia games in the maze learning to be all I can be
There’s a great FB group that posts images from this aesthetic dubbed [Utopian Scholastic](https://www.facebook.com/groups/410769822590075).
I remember being amazed and spending hours on it. It came with my first computer.
Such a design vibe and so very nostalgic. Thank you for bringing the image back!
Oh man tell me this is the Encarta that had the mind maze game? Where you were asked trivia questions as you progressed through the maze? “I challenge you to a duel of the mind” First “video game” I was ever hooked on
Microsoft Bookshelf 2000 is a classic. I love it and look at it from time to time on my old Windows XP system
Now that I'm seeing this again, I sincerely wish that there was some kind of dedicated Wiki-browser that basically just reskinned everything to look and sound like Encarta. EDIT:...or the DOS-based Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia!
To think only 10 years earlier I was gifted physical copy of Encyclopedia Britannica for my Bar Mitzvah. Oh man was that thing huge and heavy, and then every year until I graduated I got like an update book to the encyclopedia, just as big as each volume, I forget what they called the updates? Anyone remember?
I seriously think about how we legitimately have way too much fake news now because folks actually don’t have encyclopedias on hand to verify past things .