Encarta Reference Suite 99 review

A bewildering array of Microsoft's UK reference products has arrived this autumn on CD-ROM: Standard and Deluxe versions of its Encarta Encyclopedia, Encarta World Atlas and Bookshelf (the last three also come bundled as Encarta Reference Suite).

Though they share the framework of their US cousins, the content is increasingly British in origin. A dedicated team commissions and edits new material specifically for UK users, particularly schoolchildren following the National Curriculum. This year's edition features articles on Britpop and Sir Terence Conran. There are even up-to-date entries on parliamentary constituencies.

The Encyclopedia's interface has been refined over the years, and now smoothly blends text and multimedia. As well as the many photos, video and audio clips, timelines and maps, there are other goodies, ranging from panoramic 'Virtual tours' of such places as Westminster Abbey and the Space Shuttle, to practical activities such as building DNA strands.

But its beauty isn't just skin deep. Over 700 sidebars supplement key articles, and there are essays by leading authors and extracts from historical documents. Articles are updated with links to topical info on the Net. The Deluxe edition comes with a Resource Centre disc, enabling school projects to be planned using the reference material, and there's a browser-based guide to researching projects for students, plus notes for parents and teachers.

Encarta World Atlas is still the best map book on CD-ROM, with over 1.2 million geographical entries, and stunning maps at high resolutions, linked to a huge number of articles, photo galleries and music clips.

Bookcase contains the Chambers English Dictionary (the Scrabble player's bible), Roget's Longman Thesaurus, a dictionary of quotations, a concise version of Encarta, plus French and German dictionaries.

The suite comprises six discs. A DVD-ROM version will arrive next spring which should mean greater integration (and less disk swapping). Still, this is the most powerful and comprehensive British reference set available. And if you buy before December 31st, you'll receive £20 cash back!