What's the modern Encarta? - /g/ (#106122973) [Archived: 437 hours ago]

Anonymous
8/3/2025, 5:28:10 AM No.106122973
encarta_acropolis_3d_tour
encarta_acropolis_3d_tour
md5: ba3eb4e25a5c264264e538ea33e87a2a🔍
i.e. self-contained interactive offline encyclopedia?
I was reminiscing about my early computer days around 2002. We didn't have a computer at home, but my uncle did. He didn't have internet, but had Encarta! When we visited, I rushed to it, spending hours reading, playing animations, and exploring maps, 3D historical recreations, etc. Great memories... but is there a modern equivalent for that feeling?
I know Kiwix exists, it's a nice project that lets you access the entire Wikipedia offline, among many others, but to me, it doesn't compare (neither do any other projects on https://library.kiwix.org/). Yes, Encarta was much smaller, but it offered more engaging content. It was condensed yet of higher quality, much more interactive and polished, plus it came from a time with better public discourse and less politicization... At least, those are my childhood memories.
So, /g/, should look for the last Encarta release in the archives, or is there something better today that passes muster?
Replies: >>106123478 >>106123695 >>106125069 >>106125126 >>106126168 >>106126982 >>106127491
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 6:36:57 AM No.106123438
There's none. Encarta existed because back then there was no easy online repository of encyclopedic knowledge you can search for, wikipedia filled that niche beautifully. As you mentioned, you can download an offline version of wikipedia and I think you could get it in a disk form, or at least used to iirc.

Even the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) stopped being printed at all decades ago iirc, and is online only, so you can't even buy it to have on your bookshelf.
Replies: >>106126978
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 6:44:19 AM No.106123478
>>106122973 (OP)
wait until large language models are capable of coding accurate 3D models. I suppose you could already aggregate sources you consider high quality and have a language model synthesize them in a style similar to Encarta
Replies: >>106126986
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 7:31:44 AM No.106123695
>>106122973 (OP)
fuck encyclopedia, just grab a few thousand handbooks on whatever is relevant from libgen
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 8:20:38 AM No.106123975
https://edramatica.com/Main_Page
http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/main.html
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 11:35:35 AM No.106125069
61Qy2LQAUeL._UF350,350_QL50_
61Qy2LQAUeL._UF350,350_QL50_
md5: 0a8f6c7fffed3041073813d3c25835be🔍
>>106122973 (OP)
Why not get an actual physical encyclopedia that you can still read when the machines have darkened the sun?
Replies: >>106125116 >>106126135
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 11:43:06 AM No.106125116
>>106125069
Do they still send you those annual update books?
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 11:45:15 AM No.106125126
>>106122973 (OP)
What did Encarta say about the holocaust?
Replies: >>106125191 >>106126352
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 12:02:52 PM No.106125191
>>106125126
That it happened, chud
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 2:58:15 PM No.106126135
>>106125069
Too bad its not printed on acid-free paper so after not even 20 years it'll start dissolving by itself.
Replies: >>106126175
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 3:02:09 PM No.106126168
memory_palace
memory_palace
md5: 45c686ca82c1ff275510148cbb007a00🔍
>>106122973 (OP)
This looks interesting. I've seen some projects going for 3D memory palaces but nothing like Encarta.
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 3:03:09 PM No.106126175
>>106126135
I doubt that's true.
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 3:31:33 PM No.106126352
file
file
md5: 8d7871ba4883080de4103958a74c2c58🔍
>>106125126
I don't know about Encarta but I do have a full set of the 1962 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

It doesn't have a specific entry for Holocaust or Genocide. To find specific reference to the Holocaust you need to refer to the section on Jews in volume 13 (there's a few sentences on the subject in volume 10 under the section on Germany too but it's very brief)
Replies: >>106126374
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 3:34:43 PM No.106126374
file
file
md5: a11fa2788c444b8090e6ed6e80a3611b🔍
>>106126352
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 4:44:26 PM No.106126978
>>106123438
>Even the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) stopped being printed at all decades ago iirc, and is online only, so you can't even buy it to have on your bookshelf.
bullshit
https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Dictionary-English-Angus-Stevenson/dp/0199571120
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 4:44:51 PM No.106126982
>>106122973 (OP)
>self-contained interactive offline encyclopedia?
It's called a large language model
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 4:45:27 PM No.106126986
>>106123478
>large language models
>accurate
good one
Anonymous
8/3/2025, 5:53:25 PM No.106127491
>>106122973 (OP)
It's unironically Encarta. Older Encarta is better, it's just a bunch of HTML files on a disc. Newer Encarta has to be installed. For me it's Encarta 97.