Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
What business plan would have worked?
In the encyclopedia wars, even Microsoft, with or without Funk & Wagnalls, failed. Moving to digital earlier or later made little difference.
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That's of course the point that is ignored. Encarta really didn't last very long as a viable product. It wasn't so much that Microsoft made such a wonderful marketing move that those hide bound encyclopedia makers ignored, it was that the paper version encyclopedia business was going the way of the buggy whip makers. Encyclopedias and dictionaries now exist as websites, rather than as the must have volumes sitting on the book self for any parent with school age kids. While you can still buy 20 volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary, most get an online subscription.