#Which Encyclopedia?
17 messages in this thread
Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on the current crop of CD-ROM
encyclopedias? I have the choice of Groliers @ $55, Comptons Multimedia @ $80
or Comptons Interactive @ $149… Is the Interactice that much better? I more
interested in written content and still pictures than in moving demos and sound
clips. Thanks in advance for any help.
James, if you are most interested in intelligent text and are looking for a
more "senior level" encyclopedia, I would go with the Grolier. Cheers!
James:
Because all the CDROM products are based on their print counterparts, it might
be helpful to look at the grade-level for which the writing was done.
Compton's is elementary to junior high-level, Grolier is a little older –
junior to lower senior high level. Microsoft's new Encarta (to be ready Real
Soon Now?) is based on Funk & Wagnalls (with heavy modification) which was
originally written for a general adult audience. The way they have executed
their interfaces, video sequences et al. comes down (IMHO) to a matter of
style.
Hope this helps! Best – Rich
Rich:
Do know what the holdup is with Encarta. I have some older info. that says it
was to be released the first of this year?
From what I have read this is the application that I bought a CD rom drive for.
(A) Remember that press releases of not yet existant products are often full
of promises of "must have" stuff that might or might not be possible to be
delivered. (B) Sometimes promised features are a lot harder to get in and get
past beta testing (meaning they don't keep crashing the system) than they look
when promised. Word is that they have kept adding features and updates to
Encarta and now all they need is for a bullet-proof beta to pass. Until it
does, they aren't going to release it. MicroSoft has enough problems at the
moment without releasing a buggy encyclopedia into a competitive market.
David:
I don't know what the issues are are, although the last I heard was a target
release date at the first of April, and "intermedia" may be the occasion of
that release.
While I am often a harsh critic of Microsoft, I am willing to give this group
some rope. There is more than the encyclopedia at stake here. They are
proving out some very advanced schemes for production, interface design, and
more. In this, the encyclopedia is the proving ground for what they hope will
be an entirely new class of publications. The team doing this work is a class
act, and after over three years, they certainly rate a few more months to make
sure it is right.
We'll see, but it may be a significant new product, not just another
encyclopedia.
Best – Rich
I like your characterization of Encarta as "a significant new product, not just
another encyclopedia." I have seen a pre-release version, and it is a
wonderful piece of work on a variety of different levels. The underlying text
informatin is really solid, coverage of topics and subjects is first rate if
you are doing research, the number, quality, and relevance of images,
animations, sounds, etc. is also very good. In all, this is a first-class
product, and well worth the wait.
Ron
Always try to remember that Microsoft invented the phrase "Vaporware." They are
notorius for announcing a product's due date in order to kill the competition
and then taking their own sweet time about bringing ti to market.
>Always try to remember that Microsoft invented the phrase "Vaporware."
>They are notorius for announcing a product's due date in order to kill
>the competition and then taking their own sweet time about bringing ti
>to market.
Which explains why Comptons has suddently released an "upgrade" for $149
list.
Thomas:
PMJI, but don't forget the encyclopedia business has always placed a lot of
faith in the "Annual" to which you subscribe after you buy the original set of
books. It's an important part of their business model.
This is a major point of consideration (among publishers as well as
consumers!), that when a software publisher issues a new version, it's an
"upgrade." But when a content publisher issues a new version, it's a new
"edition," with new info. Just another distinction between the two
enterprises.
Best – Rich Bowers
I believe Intel invented the term vaporware (or certainly used it more than
Microsoft!) They put out an ad for one of the early Above boards that stated
something like "so advanced it even runs vaporware" showing (I think) OS/2.
Bill Gates got upset, called Intel, and the ad got pulled.
Mike
I've seen a pre-release version of Microsoft's Encarta, and everyone in the
family prefers it to the ones you mention. That includes, myself, my wife, and
two kids (ages 11 and 13) who regularly use CD-ROM based encycopedias for their
homework. After using Encarta, in fact, my daughter started getting better
grades! She loves it.
Ron
Ron . . . Have your seen Encyclopedia Britanica (sp?) on CD-ROM? I understand
it exists and may be the best of the bunch.
– Alex @ 22:44 Mtn Time –
No, I have not. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
Ron
>Is the Interactice that much better?
I bought the Comptons Interactive only to discover the "Multimedia"
version later. As it turns out (this according to a tech support person
at Comptons), the Interactive is an update of the Multimedia version. The
Multimedia version is NOT MPC.
I was told the Multimedia "is pretty much a dead product at this point".
Just repeating what I was told.
Dear James:
Encyclopedias for $55 and $80? Where can I get those prices? Aren't their
list prices $395?
Maybe so, but at a recent local computer show here in the D.C. area I was
offered the Grolier for $55, the Comptons (non-MPC) for $80 and the Comptons
inter-active for $149. Check your local paper for a show/swap meet.