Microsoft has announced it will kill off Encarta, its encyclopaedia software and website, later this year, which has crumbled in the face of competition from Wikipedia, the leading encyclopaedia on the web.

After nearly 15 years since it arrived on shelves, Microsoft announced on its website that Encarta will stop being available by the end of the year in most places worldwide.

The company said: “On October 31, 2009, MSN Encarta Web sites worldwide will be discontinued, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will be discontinued on December 31, 2009. Additionally, Microsoft will cease to sell Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium software products worldwide by June 2009”

The move is a tacit acceptance that Microsoft could no longer compete with the overwhelming popularity of Wikipedia, the free online website that launched in 2001. In January, Wikipedia got 97 per cent of the visits that web users in the US made to online encyclopaedias, according to Hitwise, the internet tracking company. Encarta trailed in second, with 1.27 per cent.

Wikipedia is updated quickly by editors who volunteer their time, allowing it to record events fast. By this morning, the entry on Encarta already stated that it was to be discontinued.

Meanwhile, Encarta articles would be quickly left embarrassingly outdated. The entry on Hillary Clinton still refers to her as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election, months on from the end of her campaign.

Without making explicit reference to Wikipedia, Microsoft explained on its decision on its website. “The category of traditional encyclopaedias and reference material has changed,” it said. “People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past. As part of Microsoft’s goal to deliver the most effective and engaging resources for today’s consumer, it has made the decision to exit the Encarta business.”

Encarta was a pet project for Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who was rebuffed in the late 1980s by Encyclopaedia Britannica as a partner to make reference articles available through a CD-ROM.

Mr Gates believed he could change the encyclopaedia business, and eventually signed up with the lesser known Funk & Wagnalls reference books. However, though Encarta successfully shook up the market, Wikipedia better exploited it many years later.

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