Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation .in 2008, The complete English version, Encarta Premium, consisted of more than 62,000 articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactivities, timelines, maps and atlas, and homework tools, and was available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD-ROM or multiple CD-ROMs. Many articles could also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements.
Encarta expanded its electronic publishing division, formed in 1985 and already notable for the success of its multimedia encyclopaedia , Encarta. It also entered the information services and entertainment industries with a broad range of products and services, most notably the Microsoft Network and MSNBC.
Joint venture with Microsoft Corporation (American company): Entry into the gaming and mobile phone market )
United States behind Research in Motion’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone. In 2009 Microsoft ceased publishing online and disc versions of its Encarta encyclopaedia, but its dictionary of the same name was still available online.
Microsoft published similar encyclopedias under the Encarta trademark in various languages, including German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese. Localized versions may contain contents licensed from available national sources and may contain more or less content than the full English version. For example, the Dutch version has content from the Dutch Winkler Prins encyclopedia.
In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing the Encarta disc and online versions. The MSN Encarta site in all countries except Japan was closed on October 31, 2009. Japan's Encarta site was closed on December 31, 2009. The Encarta online dictionary at dictionary.msn.com continues to be operated by Microsoft.