Microsoft bids goodbye to Encarta encyclopedia

San Francisco, Mar 31: Internet giant Microsoft Corp is planning to close its online encyclopedia Encarta. Microsoft sources said that on Oct 31, Encarta websites will be closed all over the world except in Japan.

"The category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed," Microsoft said in an online message at its Encarta website.

"People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past."

Encarta which was launched in 1993 to compete with Encyclopedia Britannica lost its popularity with the arrival of Wikipedia online in 2001, launched by nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation.

OneIndia News