The big test for any interactive encyclopaedia is how well it deals with local information.
Microsoft quickly learned that Australian students are not interested in an American view of the world and for the past few editions of its Encarta it has been putting a lot of effort into the Australian content.
The effort is beginning to show results, however, there remain some inconsistencies particularly with the currency of some of the information. For example, while the program is current enough to mention the devastating Canberra fires in January this year, it totally ignores the 2001 State Election in Queensland, recording only the results of the 1998 poll.
Some of the statistics are similarly out of date despite a recent census.
Apart from that there is little to criticise in what is a very slick production.
Having it all on a single DVD is a major advantage over multiple CDs and makes it much easier navigate, particularly when looking for one of the many quality video clips.
This is one area where Encarta really comes to the fore thanks to a deal Microsoft has done with Discovery Channel, resulting in longer and better quality video clips than in previous editions.
Microsoft still uses Internet Explorer to navigate the program and the enhanced features of IE 6.0 mean it has been able to add a new visual browser, similar to the menu features of Apple's OS X operating system. Instead of doing a word search (which is still available) you can browse through dozens of category folders as they rotate through the menu.
It is both intuitive and extremely easy to use.
As usual Encarta comes with a multi-language dictionary, extensive atlas and several research aids including homework tools and applications for creating your own graphs from available statistics. You have to sign up for online updates, which seems to be just another way for Microsoft to push people into its .Net passport and capture you on its burgeoning database. However, having the update service is worthwhile and a core feature of the package.
Overall, it's worth an A minus with just a bit of work to be done to ensure the local information is as up-to-date as possible.