Britannica’s decision to put an end to its print line to focus on its online editions has attracted a lot of attention. The company has however defended the move. Jorge Cauz, the president of Encyclopedia Britannica Inc, says that moving to online medium is “a rite of passage to new era”. Many people are putting the blame for this on competition from Wikipedia. But is this reasonable?
Encyclopedia Britannica has been in the business for more than 240 years. In the early 1900s, possessing an Encyclopedia Britannica was considered to be the mark of an intelligent family. Britannica was not just for children. It covered information and facts from all over the world in an era where collecting information was a very difficult task.
Coming back to 2012, it’s a whole new world today. Wikipedia may be one of the many reasons for Britannica’s print edition closure, but what actually made it obsolete is the technology giant Windows. Microsoft came up with Encarta long before Wikipedia entered the picture.
Microsoft had approached Britannica for help in creating a program for CD-ROM during the 1980s, which the company declined. Britannica did not want the computer version to cannibalize its print version. Microsoft however went ahead and created Encarta with the help of Funk and Wagnalls. This hit Encyclopedia Britannica hard during the 1990s.
As a premium content writing service focused the growing online market, we think Britannica’s decision to focus on online version is a wise move. But, only time can tell if it will be successful in overtaking the established giant Wikipedia or not!