Show HN: Encarta 95 Web

(benwinding.github.io)

58 points | by gitgud 3 days ago

16 comments

haunter 1 minute ago
I still have my boxed copy of Encarta 2001. The interactive world atlas was the best feature! Miles ahead of everything at the time.
xacky 10 minutes ago
CD ROM encyclopedias were only really viable when dial up speeds limited the amount of multimedia content on the internet. Both Microsoft and Britannica were victims of internet encyclopedias. And now static internet based encyclopedias are themselves under threat of personalised AI content as well. The pursuit of knowledge keeps changing what knowledge itself looks like.
wafflez 31 minutes ago
What a throwback. Right back to writing "book reports" in middle school.
sucrose 2 days ago
I got carried away and started playing the Age of Empires Demo from the desktop after I exited Encarta
[-]
- usern20260720 27 minutes ago
  it is amazing that you can emulate win 95 on a browser tab and play win 95 video games like it's 1998.
  [-]
  - mysterydip 0 minutes ago
    It goes to show how actually powerful modern hardware is, and how much of it is squandered by modern software.
- OuterVale 46 minutes ago
  Glad to see I'm not the only one who immediately ditched an opportunity to learn for AoE. It lures like a siren's song.
- pixel_popping 2 days ago
  Back to prompting now.
- nether1 47 minutes ago
  Me too
phantomathkg 4 minutes ago
the problem i have is the mouse control is weird.
0x10ca1h0st 14 minutes ago
The very first program I ever used on my father's PC, and would constantly get stuck playing Mind Maze for hours.
otagekki 1 hour ago
Wait, it even features a windows 95? nice easter egg
[-]
- notpushkin 21 minutes ago
  It is loading a Windows 95 VM (using https://copy.sh/v86/) and runs an actual copy of Encarta 95 there, yeah.
  [-]
  - p_l 3 minutes ago
    and includes AoE 2 :D
tadfisher 2 days ago
Just checked, the Soundgarden clip is in its proper place on the Rock Music article. Fantastic work.
[-]
- gitgud 2 days ago
  Nice! Here’s the permalink for “Rock Music” (it’s funny how this is implemented)
  https://benwinding.github.io/encarta_95_web/#/article/Rock%2...
bananaflag 1 hour ago
The text looks very weird on my PC, see: https://imgur.com/a/vAMVHc7
[-]
- Cilvic 42 minutes ago
  isn't that how it looked at the time?
Brendinooo 34 minutes ago
Straight to Mind Maze for me!
(Mouse is VERY touchy though)
rahidz 34 minutes ago
Immediately jumped straight to MindMaze.
karim79 2 days ago
Oh God I remember running this on my dad's computer which had the first CD-ROM drive I had seen. I felt like I was in a spaceship
[-]
- bombcar 2 minutes ago
  I remember the CD drive on the school computer took CDs in a big case with a floppy like opening.
est 34 minutes ago
The mouse hijack feels really weird
neronuser 3 days ago
Oh, that's very nostalgic, even though I only got acquainted with Encarta in the 2000s
BorisMelnik 2 days ago
wow blast from the past. I do beleive this exact version prob in exactly 95 was the first CD I ever inserted into a CD rom. lots of fun!
alexwrich 2 days ago
NICE - thank u