Reference

Encarta 2000 Reference Suite 2000
By Michael Matthews
The Computer Guys ™©
Blenheim House Network ™©
1.12.1999



Encarta reference suite 2000 arrived on no less than 6 CD ROMs. The encyclopaedia deluxe needs 3 cds, Interactive World Atlas 2 cds and World English Dictionary just 1 cd. After a straightforward but lengthy installation it was time to see just how the number one reference suite faired. It soon became obvious that no mater how optimized these programs installed themselves, that life with Encarta would require a fair amount of cd swapping, much to my annoyance, try as I did the seemed no way to install the entire package to hard disk and from then on run the suite entirely off the hard drive, with the expensive disks locked away. It would seem Microsoft have made this need to have the CD in the computer as a counter measure to software piracy. For my mind this results in the majority of honest people having to suffer for the criminal activates of a few. Fortunately Microsoft also sent the DVD version along as well. This saved the day for me, one disk to install and one disk needed to be kept in the computer when using it. As well it should be said the multimedia content of the DVD version knocks the socks of the ordinary CD version. That said, I recommend anyone about to buy Encarta to purchase the DVD version and if you do not have a DVD drive then now would be a good time to buy one. Back to Encarta, it goes without saying, that by any measure that this the 2000 version is the worlds best and most purchased reference suite on the planet. Why, simply because no other company offers so much information so well packaged at such a competitive price. Don't tell Microsoft but even if they doubled the price it would still offer good value for money! The figures are just astounding, here are a few.
Encarta 2000 suite
Articles & entries / words				480,00 / 20 million
Photos & illustrations				21,000+
Video & animations				180+
Sound clips & pronunciations				67,000+
WWW links				22,500+
Dictionary				Yes
Study centre				Yes
Detailed atlas with 1.8 million place names				Yes
Conclusion, if you have a computer and need a work of reference in the home or office, you only need to buy one product and that's Encarta 2000 deluxe suite and if you can, make it the DVD version.