by Joyce Kohl
October 9, 1998
A bonanza of knowledge and research tools all integrated together makes Microsoft Encarta Reference Suite 99 a complete information source for students as well as inquisitive people of any age who want to continue learning. It's a combination of reference programs: Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 99; Encarta Virtual Globe 99; Microsoft Bookshelf 99. Explore the encyclopedia with the all new Encarta Explorer, use the Natural Language Search for common question phrases, and create a report with the new Research Organizer. With the integrated designs and similarity between toolbars, menus, and the Pinpointer search tool, it's easy to switch between any of the modules of the suite.
A Stellar Suite
These innovative tools contain over 66,000 articles, over 21,000 photos and illustrations, over 250 video/animation clips, over 74,000 sound clips and pronunciations, 29,000 plus Web links, and 2,000 plus Article Sidebars. The integrated reference resources brings learning to new heights. Its new Web-like interface facilitates easy navigation to related subject articles. There are FREE monthly updates, links to the World Wide Web, virtual tours, a Homework Center, over 18,000 quotes, and a writing style guide. Interactivities include constructing a dinosaur from the bones, and even learning games. Maps are detailed with over 1.2 million place names. Take a Virtual Flight over an entire country! The list of features seem to be endless.
Hear the spoken pronunciations or use the supported closed captions. Find synonyms. Look up and use famous quotes in any report, check out the historical timelines, explore the entire world in the convenience of your home. And there's support for voice commands allowing you to navigate via a microphone! The text-to-speech (highlight words or phrases to have them read out loud) is extremely good. Microsoft has put together all in one package one of the most exciting set of programs I've ever seen!
Installation Requirements
The amount of hard disk space required varies according to what you wish to install. It's imperative to know how much hard disk space you have BEFORE you begin the installation. Here's the list of system requirements:
• Windows 95/98 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or later with Service Pack 3
• 16 MB RAM for Windows 95/98
• 24 MB RAM for Windows NT Workstation
• 118 MB available hard disk space
• Minimum of a double-speed CD-ROM drive
• Super VGA, 256 color monitor
• Local bus video with 1 MB or more of video memory
• Mouse or compatible pointing device
• 16-Bit sound card with speakers or headphones
• Research Organizer needs 2 MB additional hard disk space
• Modem and Internet access if you want to use Yearbook, Web links, and get monthly updates. You'll also need 1 MB additional hard disk space for each monthly installment, and a Web Browser. [Note: Online updates available on the Internet July 1998 through December 1999]
• Using Natural Language requires 40 MB additional hard drive space
• Using Speech Recognition requires 15 MB additional hard drive space
• A microphone if using Speech Recognition
• Using Text-to-Speech requires 17 MB additional hard drive space
• Using Bookshelf HD requires 115 MB of additional hard drive space
CD #1 - Installation and Resources
The other four CDs are the Encyclopedia Deluxe 99 Disks 1 and 2, Virtual Globe 99, and Bookshelf. All are in a 6-disk plastic case. Another CD is in the package: A month of Free Internet access an email from Microsoft, a Windows 98 Preview, Internet Gaming Zone Software, Money 98 Trial Version, Gold 1998 Lite Edition, plus trial versions of other Microsoft programs. I put this CD in the sixth space of my CD case. If you have a CD-ROM RW (read/write), you may want to store all the free upgrades on a CD and then keep it in the empty space of your CD case.
A small Getting Started booklet of twenty-two pages takes you for a short tour of the main areas of each suite, shows you how to find specific information, has directions for navigating the world, and then tells you how to collect and organize information and to create reports. Keep it handy until you've learned the contents. From then on, you'll quickly become adept using all the integrated modules.
Exploring Encyclopedia Deluxe 99
Feeling like a mosquito in a nudist colony, I really didn't know where to begin browsing among the 41,000 articles - 8,000 are new and 3,500 have been revised or updated. The sidebars now have over 2,000 original documents (1,000 are new). There are over 30 virtual tours to famous places, 15 of which are new. The Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 99 is akin to having a new thirty-six volume set of encyclopedias lined up on a bookshelf. With each volume containing a wealth of information, I know I would probably grab the first one, flip through it until some photograph caught my eye, then begin to read. Exploring Encarta is also a dive-right-in and take a look process, except that I didn't have to continuously get up to select another recommended volume for related information.
If you have a specific research subject, you'll probably want to use an organized approach by using the Find option and the Natural Language Query. Not having a subject in mind, I opted to use the new Encarta Explorer which showcases the best by categories.
Selecting to Explore The Best
Choosing A Subject
Once I selected a subject, Paleontology, a page popped into view listing all the information available on the subject. From the Contents Page, or the subject's home page, I was able to click on any of the outlined headings on the left . . .
. . . the middle . . .
. . . the right . . .
. . . or any of the photos on the Media Bar at the top.
Interaction
I immediately clicked on the Dinosaur Construction because it had an interactive symbol. The kid in me knew it must be a puzzle of some type. I was right! On the left of the screen were parts of the dinosaur skeleton which were supposed to be dragged to the construction box on the right.
If the selected bone is dropped at the right place, a sound is heard and the bone is "attached." If wrong, the bone jumps back into its original place in the box on the left. As I repeatedly picked up a bone to build the dinosaur, I realized how little I knew about the anatomy of a dinosaur skeleton. But, finally, the last pieces were almost in place.
My dinosaur was finished - or so I thought.
Once all the bones are placed correctly, flesh "magically" appears on the finished skeleton and a background is added. I used the Reset button to start over again. I wanted to capture the before and after screens for this review. Well, the truth is I constructed the dinosaur skeleton several times until I learned where each bone belonged and could do it without error. If an adult enjoyed this, can you imagine the delight of a child manipulating the interactions? Can you imagine the type of report a student could write on paleontology if comprehension of the subject matter is reinforced by actions?
The Boy King
It was time for me to quit playing and create a report for this review. This time I used the Find feature. I typed in "King Tut."
The tomb of Tutankhamen, I learned, was originally found in November 1922, but the inner crypt wasn't opened until February 1923.
Available information includes the original newspaper report of the events, journals written during the excavations, photographs, and numerous related articles such as the influence of art designs.
Assuming a young child and some adults might not know the meaning of the word "sarcophagus" or how to pronounce it, I double-clicked on the word. The dictionary popped up almost immediately.
And the same word looked up in Bookshelf
Report Organizer
As I collected information relating to King Tut, I used the Report Organizer adding simple note cards for each separate piece of related material. I used no hierarchy outline - just added cards. When you want to copy anything, the Getting Started booklet tells you to use Options/Copy. The easiest way, I think, is to use default hotkeys of Ctrl+C for copying (after highlighting), then Ctrl+V to paste.
I clicked on File/Export from the Note Organizer, selected HTML, then gave the file a name. If you'd like to see the unedited finished report, touch here. Complex professional reports using proper outline forms can be created easily. If you don't know how to construct a report with a hierarchy required by teachers, the Report Organizer has a tutorial and samples.
Virtual Globe 99
Plan to spend some quality time in this newly redesigned interface with 1.2 million place names, 192 country home pages with 10,000 articles and 1,200 new geographic articles. There's also 280 new or revised statistical indicators, over 5,000 images, videos, video, music and sound clips, 12,000 plus editorially selected Web links, side-by-side comparisons, and virtual flights over almost every country. The maps are detailed; they can be zoomed in or out. There are 18 map styles, all of which can be customized. Learn about the different lands, climates, cultures and geographic features.
I liked the Dynamic Sensor which launches when you click on its icon on the menu bar at the bottom of a map. It provides immediate information of latitude, longitude and a range of population as you slide you cursor over cities.
Naturally, being a resident of Paradise Valley, Arizona, my first choice of map explorations was Arizona. Before enlarging the area where I live, Paradise Valley, I found the map to be so misleading that at first I thought the cartographers had incorrectly placed Paradise Valley too far to the north and mixed it up with an area of Phoenix which is referred to as "Paradise Valley." A strange thing I found when selecting to see the map of Scottsdale the enlarged map I had on my screen changed to the smaller one which doesn't even show Scottsdale! Clicking on Scottsdale indicates a choice to see a map of Scottsdale. I tried this several times. Same results - no map of Scottsdale.
I thought perhaps the cities shown or not shown on a particular map might be based on population, so I looked up the populations. Chandler's population is a little over half that of Scottsdale. Tempe is only around 10,000 more than Scottsdale. (By the way, the phonetic pronunciation of Tempe is "Tim-pee" with the accent on the last syllable.) So, I concluded the population figures had nothing to do with Scottsdale not being shown.
Camelback Mountain is a famous landmark. With an elevation of 2,704 feet, it can be seen from almost any location in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area - making it an easy way to find your way around the city in case you get lost. Not only is Camelback Mountain not mentioned anywhere on the Encarta Virtual Globe map of Arizona, the elevation is not indicated. Directly to the north of us is Mummy Mountain. It's elevation is 2,260 feet. We're actually sandwiched between these two mountains. Mummy Mountain isn't shown either. Even the small road atlas I have shows both mountains. Larger photos of Camelback Mountain can be seen by clicking on either of the thumbnails.
I think there should have at least been a symbol for the all the mountains - as depicted in the legend in this screenshot:
I searched in vain for elevations of cities and mountains in Virtual Globe. If there's any available, I missed them. I even searched in help for "elevation" - found a city by that name, but no elevations. Elevations are included in the articles of major cities in the Encarta Encyclopedia as in this excerpt from a screenshot of the article on Scottsdale, Arizona:
Note that Scottsdale's elevation is 1,259 feet, so obviously Camelback Mountain is easily seen from almost any point. Phoenix has a lower elevation than Scottsdale, so Camelbaack "looms" in the sky. Resorts are built all around the mountain.
In the following screenshot, note the elevation colors around Paradise Valley which show no indication at all of either mountain. The colors seem to also indicate Paradise Valley is lower than Phoenix. And the measurements are in meters. It isn't. It's higher. Another glaring omission: Scottsdale Community College which takes up many acres just east of Pima Road. I don't like the map scale given in kilometers only nor the elevations in meters only. Maybe I should be able to "think in kilometers or meters," but I don't. Again, checking with my road atlas, new last year, it has both kilometers and miles, meters and feet. Encarta Virtual Globe 99, in my opinion, should make it easier for people like me to determine distances.
Glaring Error
I clicked on the option to see the Phoenix City Map from within the Encyclopedia module, and all I got was a big black square. Then I thought maybe clicking on the little gray area at the bottom which says "expand" would bring up the map. It took me to a map of the Pacific Islands! I then went to Encyclopedia Deluxe 99 and found the article on Phoenix included the same black square. Clicking it took me to the same map of the Pacific Islands. Here's a highly reduced screenshot of the blacked out "map" which I assume should have been a Phoenix City Map:
Multimedia
Descriptions come to life with the animated videos and voice descriptions. In the following screenshot of one animation, the blood flow to and from the heart is explained in audio while the scene changes according to what is being said.
In this video of a hummingbird, the audio tells all about this amazing little creature, the amount it needs to eat, and the speed of its wings. Living in an area with a great number of hummingbirds, I found this to be much more interesting than a static photo in any of my books of birds.
Arizonans will be proud to see the following photograph and hear the accompanying audio of desert sounds. Associated with Arizona and found in many of our yards, the beautiful Saguaro is one of the major attractions in the Southwest. The phonetic pronunciation of Saguaro is "Suh-war-oh" with the accent on the second syllable.
Bookshelf 99
Besides the QuickShelf shortcuts, Web searches, parental controls, support for Intellimouse, and the integration with Microsoft Office, Bookshelf has a collection of nine reference works:
• The American Heritage Dictionary
• Roget's Thesaurus
• The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations
• The Encarta Manual of Style and Usage
• Microsoft Press Computer and Internet Dictionary
• Encarta 99 Desk Encyclopedia
• Encarta 99 Desk World Atlas
• The Encarta 99 New World Almanac
• The Encarta 99 New World Timeline
The American Heritage Dictionary definitions and Roget's Thesaurus with its 250,000 words (QuickSynonyms) can be copied to the hard drive - also called "Bookshelf Hard Drive." To do this, launch Bookshelf, then select Options/Copy to Hard Drive. With my 266 MHz system, this took a full five minutes. The total hard drive space used on my system by Encarta Reference Suite 99 (not including any files which were installed in my system directories), and with the dictionary and thesaurus installed, is 206 megabytes.
Bookshelf's Web Search has over 400,000 Website connections from which to select. If you have more than one browser installed on your system, the default browser will be launched from any of the clickable Web locations. You will also be notified from a pop-up dialog box that you are leaving Encarta and going to the Internet. A VERY nice feature.
A QuickQuote Example
A QuickSynonym Example
Virtual Flight Example
Games
Yes, there are even games to make learning enjoyable and/or test your knowledge. Here's a screenshot of one I found, Mindmaze. In this one, there are clickable areas. For example, clicking on a door takes you into another room. I found another one in the maps which tests your geographical knowledge.
Another educational and fun game is State Capitals. When I was a child of nine or ten years old, I was given a puzzle of the United States. Each puzzle piece was a state; each state had the capital and chief product. I learned them all without realizing I was doing anything other than having fun. This interactive game brought back memories. I especially like the small tidbit of information given for each state. All you have to do is find the correct state and then click on it. As you move your cursor over the states, a description box tells you which state your pointer is hovering over. Very handy for those tiny states like Rhode Island.
Encarta Online 99
There's an integration of free and premium reference information here. The premium service, available by subscription, includes high quality references, tools, features and activities. You'll also find a new deluxe premium reference which has an enhanced Schoolhouse educational resource. The free abridged version of Encarta Encyclopedia includes 16,000 articles and thousands of photos, charts and maps. It also has over 13,000 Web Links to relevant information.
For as little as $49.95 a year, you can subscribe to the annual update of Encarta Reference Suite, and have the newest 5 CDs automatically sent to you.
Conclusion
Encarta Reference Suite 99 is truly a wonderful, terrific, and awesome multimedia reference to quench the thirst of knowledge seekers and to fulfill the requirements of research projects. Even with the few problems and/or errors I found, it is worth every cent. It will bring many hours of pleasure to the entire family; it will aid in any type of research project; it will be an aid to students. It isn't guaranteed to raise grade points, but I'm willing to bet it will.
I especially appreciated being able to pop the Encyclopedia 99 CD into my CD-ROM drive and have it launch immediately - easier than using either Start/Programs or placing a shortcut on my desktop. Being able to save my favorite "discoveries" by clicking Favorites/Add is a big plus, too.
I don't have a microphone attached to my computer, so I didn't try the voice commands. But then considering the fact that I write reviews in the pre-dawn hours, the sound of my voice booming throughout the house might not go over very big. No doubt about it, though, I need to "get with it" or all the new technology will leave me in the dust.
For users who have severaal gigabytes of hard drive space (I have 11 gigabytes), swapping the CDs becomes annoying. I'd like to be able to install the entire Encarta Reference Suite 99 on my system. On the other hand, anything worthwhile sometimes has drawbacks. I'd swap CDs any day before I'd do without this highly enjoyable suite . . . especially for the convenience of having so much information available for so little effort.
I found Virtual Globe 99 to be lacking in accuracy, topography, and I think elevations should be indicated. Even my small, free, road atlas shows the mountains surrounding my home. And it shows the elevations in feet, not meters. The distance guide in Virtual Globe should definitely show miles as well as kilometers. The blacked out "map" which was supposed to be a Phoenix City Map is a big error. Clicking on it and being taken to the Pacific Islands wasn't a related article either! A major goof.
The cheapest street price I found, $79.65, was at PROVANTAGE. I've personally ordered software from here and found them to be reliable and fast. MicroWAREHOUSE and CompUSA both have it for $89.95.
Even with the errors I found, this is the ultimate in a total package - a set of completely integrated educational and informational tools! I give Encarta Reference Suite 99 four out of five Go Inside Review Lights.
Copyright © 1998 by Joyce Kohl
"Go Inside" is a David Boles Trademark