Microsoft to shut down Encarta Web sites

IDG News Service - Microsoft Corp. is shutting down its Encarta encyclopedia Web sites and will also discontinue its Student and Premium Encarta software products.

"The category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed," reads a note explaining the move on the MSN Encarta Web site. "People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past."

The Encarta Web sites worldwide will shut down Oct. 31 and Microsoft will stop selling the software products by June of this year. One exception is the Encarta Japan Web site, which will stay live until the last day of this year.

People who have paid for a subscription to MSN Encarta Premium, which offers them access to more information, will get a refund for fees paid beyond April 30, although they'll continue to be able to access the site until it shuts down in October.

Microsoft will continue to offer technical support for the software products for three years.

The software maker has discontinued other products recently. Late last year, Microsoft announced it would stop selling OneCare, its consumer antivirus product. It also killed off a mobile browser research product last year.

Rival Google Inc. has also discontinued some offerings recently, presumably in response to pressure from the deteriorating economic conditions. Google has shut down Jaiku, Mashup Editor, Dodgeball, Catalog Search, Google Notebook and Print Ads.