Encyclopedic Knowledge, Then vs. Now

Encyclopedic Knowledge, Then vs. Now

The New York Times takes one last look at Microsoft Encarta and how the information economy turned against packaged, priced products.

tags: New York Times, Randall Stross, encyclopedia, Microsoft, encarta

• IN 1985, when Microsoft was turned down by Britannica, the conventional wisdom in the encyclopedia business held that a sales force that knocked on doors was indispensable, that encyclopedias were “sold, not bought.” Encarta showed that with a low-enough price — it was selling for $99 when Britannica introduced its own CD-ROM encyclopedia in 1994 for $995 — it could become the best-selling encyclopedia.

  But the triumph was short-lived. Microsoft soon learned that the public would no longer pay for information once it was available free. Other information businesses, of course, are now confronting the same fact, but without the Windows and Office franchises to fall back upon.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Related posts:

1. Farewell, Microsoft Encarta
2. Knowledge in the Dumps
3. Microsoft and Yahoo may yet do business
4. Wiki-Watchers
5. New look