I can’t help but feel that the closure of Microsoft Encarta is the end of an era. Website and service closures will surely become even more commonplace now that we’re in the midst of a recession – Microsoft itself has already closed ACES Game Studio, which had made the seminal Flight Simulator series since 1988, as well as Ensemble, which crafted the classic Age of Empires series and, more recently, Halo Wars.

The closure of Encarta may resonate on a more scholarly level – or, more likely, on a much smaller level altogether – then a couple of still-relevant games studios but, even though I haven’t used Encarta in the best part of a decade, I’ll still miss it.

That’s because before Wikipedia came along and obliterated the competition, Encarta was my encyclopaedia of choice, guiding me through homework and school assignments too numerous to count.

My first encounter with Encarta must have been similar to thousands of others’ – at school. It was installed on one machine, in the library, and was my first choice if I needed to do any research. I’d eagerly scorn the thousands of books in favour of tapping away on the whizzy new computer, which looked much like Stu’s Goodwill PC but only took fifteen minutes to boot.

I also quickly became addicted to MindMaze – the medieval-themed castle game where you progressed through the stone walls by answering general knowledge questions. Looking back, it’s worrying to think how many hours I wasted trying to explore a fictional castle but, at the time, it almost felt like the future.

On a more technical level, Encarta was a showcase for the PC, using its graphics and sound cards to full effect: the inclusion of videos and animated diagrams allowed for greater exploration of subjects as well as showing off your 3DFX Voodoo GPU, and the numerous audio clips – of music, word pronunciations and more – felt revolutionary, and I remember listening to as many clips as I could because it seemed such a novelty at the time.

Microsoft must have found it incredibly difficult to justify Encarta’s existence in 2009, though. Encarta may be written and compiled by experts, but its 42,000 articles doesn’t compare favourably with Wikipedia’s 2.7 million, even if those are written by volunteer contributors. Lacklustre updating didn’t help, either, with some articles laying fallow and lacking necessary updates for years; Wikipedia, on the other hand, is updated within minutes of a situation changing.

In the face of such competition and in the current climate, it’s easy to see why Microsoft felt compelled to pull the plug on Encarta. Wikipedia may be the new one-stop-shop for knowledge and it may offer, ultimately, more than Encarta ever did, but I doubt I’ll ever feel as fondly towards it as I always will do for the oft-maligned Encarta.

P.S. Also, if anyone has found an online recreation of MindMaze, please let me know in the comments – I’ll be eternally grateful.