Woe: Microsoft has officially pulled the plug on Encarta, a reference work that, for many of us, was probably more formative than anyone would like to admit.

Yes, please join with me in admitting that you spent a fair share of time reading the Human Reproduction article on your beige IBM Aptiva back in the day. Or produced/plagiarized many a fine middle school research papers, culling facts from its bounty. Encarta, you will be missed.

If anyone hasn't figured it out already, paid encyclopedias have been straight murdered by something called Wikipedia. In fact, I went to the Wikipedia page for Encarta to research this post. Oh, the irony; sorry to rub in the pain in your final hour, Encarta. The plug will be officially pulled in October of this year. [Reuters]

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