Microsoft Premiers Encarta Reference Suite 98

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 14, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Suite 98, which includes Microsoft’s most popular reference titles: Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition, Encarta Virtual Globe 1998 Edition, and the Bookshelf Ò 98 CD-ROM reference library. For the first time, three of the world’s most popular multimedia reference products are combined in one powerful package. These award-winning products provide families, schools and libraries with the highest-quality multimedia resources for their reference library.

“Microsoft’s reference titles combine multimedia brilliance with up-to-date editorial content to bring information to life and inspire the user’s imagination,”
said Craig Bartholomew, general manager of the reference business unit at Microsoft.
“This suite offers people top value with best-of-breed products at a compelling price.”

The combined reference works contain more than 20 million words of text in more than 50,000 articles. There are 32,000 comprehensive articles in Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe, 1.2 million place names in Encarta Virtual Globe, and more than 600,000 entries for definitions, synonyms, quotes and more in Bookshelf 98.

“Packed with powerful tools for finding and using information, the Encarta Reference Suite is the perfect, one-stop reference center for the classroom,”
said Merle Marsh, Ed.D., academic dean, Worcester Country School, Berlin, Md.
“With these outstanding resources conveniently combined and easily accessed, students have their very own library right on their desktops.”

Explore and Learn With Every Title

Award-winning Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe is the ultimate learning resource, offering a wealth of extraordinary new content and interactive features. Encarta Virtual Globe is the richest and most detailed geographic reference available in any medium. And Bookshelf 98 helps users enrich and improve their written communications by providing quick and easy access to 10 essential reference works.

Highlights of Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe

  • Comprehensive content. Six thousand new and updated articles on a wide range of topics, complete with 900 informative sidebars – guest essays, historical accounts, famous documents and speeches.

  • New-media and interactive features. Nineteen new Virtual Tours and 24 InterActivities provide a unique and informative perspective on places and things.

  • Research Organizer. This is a handy way to gather information from a variety of sources, make virtual note cards, arrange them in an outline and construct a report.

  • Accessibility tools. These include closed captioning and quick searching.

  • Online features. These include streamlined, automatic monthly updates and searchable Web Links.

Highlights of Encarta Virtual Globe

  • Richly detailed maps. Navigate a 3-D model of the Earth and discover 19 different map styles, from satellite to climate.

  • Comprehensive information. Over 1.2 million place names, up-to-date statistical data, and the richest cultural information of any atlas in any medium are offered.

  • 3-D World Flights. Experience the sensation of flying over unique geographic landmarks.

  • Interactive learning. New Name That Place game lets users learn about the world in a fun and challenging way.

  • Online connection. Over 10,000 Web Links highlight news, weather and information from all over the world.

Highlights of Bookshelf 98

  • Comprehensive resources. Ten frequently used reference titles from the American Heritage Dictionary to the Columbia Dictionary of Quotations are included.

  • Bookshelf Premier Web Search. This built-in feature uses Infoseek technology to connect to more than 400,000 high-quality, editorially selected Internet sites.

  • QuickShelf

    ™

    information retrieval tool.
    Options such as QuickDefine, QuickQuote and Quick ZIP Code can be accessed without exiting current programs.


Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Encarta Reference Suite 98 for the Windows® 95 and Windows NT® Workstation operating systems is available for an estimated retail price of $109. Schools and other educational institutions may acquire Encarta Reference Suite 98 at a discount through the Microsoft Open License Pack program, a flexible plan for acquiring Microsoft products.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, Encarta, Bookshelf, QuickShelf, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

The ZIP Code database is licensed from the United States Postal Service. Microsoft is a nonexclusive licensee of the United States Postal Service. The price at which Microsoft Bookshelf 98 can be acquired is neither established, controlled nor approved by the United States Postal Service. Copyright
©1996 by the United States Postal Service. All rights reserved. The ZIP Code database contained in Microsoft Bookshelf 98 is intended for reference purposes only and may not be used for the purposes of qualifying for postal rate discounts.

Note to editors : If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.

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