Encarta Encyclopedia Free Software -

: Included thousands of photos, illustrations, music clips, videos, and interactive animations.

Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from . While it was primarily a paid commercial product, limited free versions existed through the Encarta Concise Encyclopedia online and ad-supported web articles before its eventual discontinuation. Today, the software is considered abandonware and is often found for free on archival sites like Internet Archive . Historical Overview and Development Encarta Encyclopedia Free Software

: After the encyclopedia was discontinued, the online dictionary remained accessible for free until 2011 . Discontinuation and Legacy : Included thousands of photos, illustrations, music clips,

At its 2008 peak, contained over 62,000 articles and a massive library of multimedia assets. Today, the software is considered abandonware and is

Microsoft announced the discontinuation of Encarta in March 2009, citing shifts in how people consume information. Microsoft Encarta Retrospective

: It originally debuted at $395 , though this price quickly dropped to $99 as it became frequently bundled with new multimedia PCs.

Encarta was born from Microsoft's internal project in the late 1980s. After being rejected by Encyclopædia Britannica , Microsoft licensed text from Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia for its initial 1993 release.