He says that early examples of digital publishing like Encarta asked the wrong question.
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It's a neat idea, but the Encarta's reach exceeds its grasp, as indeed it probably must.
The result, due out Aug. 4 in print and electronic forms, is the Encarta World English Dictionary.
Microsoft wanted to expand its Encarta brand of digital reference materials, which includes the world's bestselling electronic encyclopedia.
However you come down on these questions, the Encarta World English Dictionary is a lot of fun to browse.
So, I just looked it up on the Encarta dictionary: English (North America).
Mr Kempin also exerted pressure on IBM over the CD-Rom Encyclopaedia IBM World Book, which competed with Microsoft's Encarta.
In June 7.7 million people checked Wikipedia, according to Nielsen NetRatings, beating out MSN Encarta to become the Web's top research site.
"I would wonder whether the Encarta would water down people's expectations of dictionaries, " says John Simpson, chief editor of the 20-volume OED.
Encarta's other selling points: lots of new words and phrases, like gonk (to lie, especially in an on-line conversation) and yadda yadda yadda.
It recently announced a multiproject deal with Microsoft that will include publishing the Encarta World English Dictionary as a book and CD-ROM in August.
Melnyk, a cabinet maker by day, calls himself the "skishin' magician, " and boasts that the word "skishing" is now found in the Microsoft Encarta dictionary.
Kathy Rooney, the UK editor-in-chief of Encarta World Dictionary, was surprised by the callers that could tell there was a difference between US and British English.
"People reading novels by Canadians or watching the British film The Full Monty or seeing non-American music videos on MTV or non-American reporting on CNN, " insists the Encarta's editor-in-chief, Kathy M.
You also get Microsoft's Home Essentials 98 (which includes Word 97, Encarta 98, and Works 4.0), Bookshelf 98, Encarta Virtual Globe, Hallmark Greetings Workshop, Money 98, Trip Planner 98, and Streets 98.
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But Gates shares Buffett's interest in the media world and even likes to joke that he has created a digital encyclopedia called Encarta that now outsells World Book, which is controlled by Buffett.
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