Cheap Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 Deluxe Edition (Software) (Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Mac OS X, Windows XP) Price

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Customer Reviews of Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 Deluxe Edition

The Gold Standard, but let down by a poor Atlas
Encyclopedia Britannica has been the 'Gold Standard' of print encyclopedias for some two-hundred odd years, but its electronic incantations have been much less impressive. Dogged by poor user interfaces, high cost, and ineffective software design (related to poor management at the corporate level and bad business and investment decisions in the 1990's), competitors such as Encarta have run rings around this venerable warhorse of information and knowledge.

Britannica Deluxe 2003 improves on its predecessors, and has attempted to address the problems mentioned above, but still suffers from major weaknesses. The user-interface is better designed (it is easier to make searches), the content more comprehensive and accessible, and more research tools have been added in. The written articles are of first class quality, and the inclusion of the current Britannica yearbooks adds to its value.

However, the package still has some glaring faults. The quality is nowhere near that of the Print Set, with many important maps and diagrams in the print version of the encyclopedia simply being left out in the software version. This is especially frustrating when one is reading an article where map references are essential, i.e. the articles on history, geography or on important countries and geographic regions. The encyclopedia has no provision for updates, unlike its competitors, forcing the user to buy a new package every six months to a year. The organisation of the encyclopedia is also somewhat confusing, unlike the excellent organisation of the print version, which has extensive indexes and a guide to navigating the encyclopedia. The World Atlas is far behind Encarta in quality and in simple interactivity, and it is in fact the weakest part of the whole package.

I would personally recommend that along with Britannica, the Encarta package should be purchased as well. Encarta has 'lighter' content than Britannica but has a first-class atlas, whilst Britannica has a first-class encyclopedia but a second-rate Atlas. The weaknesses and strengths of the both packages tend to complement each other, hence one would be better off with both than with one alone.

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Britannica 2003 Deluxe Edition MS Windows CD Version
The software problems of earlier versions have been completely corrected:
The software installs easily if your antivirus software is disabled first.
The CD version can be completely transferred to the hard drive so that Britannica can be operated without a runtime CD in the drive.
The Britannica display window now can be sized to take advantage of larger monitors.
The text if very legible and I'm using the smallest size text available on an 18 inch display without any problem.
The search routine speed is dependent on the amount of ram memory you have. The more memory, the faster the speed. With a mere 512MB of ram the search routines are blindingly fast.
The Search routine allows Boolean operators (explained in the help file) so you are able to narrow down the search results to the desired data almost instantly.
As always, the Britannica content is the most complete of the available encyclopedias.

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Very difficult and often impossible to install
Tried installing on two ( 2 ) excellent PC's running Windows 98 with no success other than ruining one hard disc drive - Britannica website support was POOR and troubleshooting section was no help - Major problem appears to be a goofy Java loader called "InstallAnywhere" that locks up your machine and often destroys CLOGS UP your HDD with junk that can't be removed by any of the procedures Britannicas POOR instructions - Hope that Britannica can stop using goofy and buggy zerog.com software so they can provide a good product that actually works ! ??