Rating: 
Summary: Strong Pros Strong Cons
Review: Other reviewers have covered this, but wanted to reinforce their points.1. No other software encyclopedia I have seen has articles whose scholastic quality is anywhere in the ballpark of Britannica's. I use it every day, for serious research, and have looked up everything from physics to impressionist painting to American history. The articles are TOP NOTCH. 2. The software interface, images, and charts leave much to be desired. The interface is brutal, and searches slow. Not that a ten second wait is a big deal, but. . .with the entire thing on the HD this seems excessive. You also can't search within articles, which is maddening. It is frustrating to read a whole article to find a keyword that other programs like Encarta automatically highlight. I have used Encarta and other products. Encarta is a superficial Encyclopedia that is excellent for children, or the typical individual looking for simple, quick summaries. I didn't realize how meager Encarta's entries are until using Britannica. This is not a simplistic bashing of Encarta: I think the products have two different goals, and audiences. I think Encarta is a good product, but not for scholars. However, finding a list of all Presidents, or other such info--a simple task in Encarta--is impossible in Britannica. Its articles are great, but if you need anything but an article, which I often do. . . The shoddiness of the interface is GLARING. Using things like the atlas is a royal pain in the buttocks. If Britannica had a better interface, and more chart/graph features (lists of things, broad overview charts, etc.,) it would be almost perfect. Even with its shortcomings, I would still reccomend it. I use it every day because the thoroughness and quality of the articles makes the other headaches bearable. You can reference most any topic, and be assured that you are recieving a fairly thorough overview from an EXPERT. Once you grow accustomed to this scholastic quality, Encarta articles seem like something written for a child.
Rating: 
Summary: A Macintosh Centric Review
Review: Test System: PowerMac G4 AGP 400 MHz with 896 MB RAM and a Radeon 8500
OS: Mac OS 10.2.3 (build 6G30) While Britannica 2003 runs on OS X, it is not truly native. Rather, it is a Java based application designed on the Windows platform. Java is cross-platform, but without some minor changes to optimize an application for the Mac the experience may be poor. Unfortunately, Brtiannica did not make that effort... and it shows. Installation was a hassle. The first installation program you see (and the one the readme tells you to use) fails, you have to open the folder "Extract" then "MacOSX" to find a working one. The full install requires that you switch CDs midway and ejects the first disk, but fails to unmount it in the Finder. It also ejects the second disk when finished without unmounting. The installer suffered an unexpected quit as it finished too. Attempting to unmount the ghost disk icons hangs the Finder and requires a relaunch (not a restart). The application took 19 seconds to load, but once loaded performance was generally acceptable. Slower than a native application, but faster than a broadband internet connection and this is on a 3 year old computer, albeit with lots of RAM. Unfortunately, the interface is completely non-Macintosh. The menu bar is not utilized, instead File, Edit, etc. are stuck in the application. "Britannica Help" under the Help menu does not work. Additionally, key equivalents are still mapped for Windows, so some standard command-key combination won't work and control instead of command must be used for those that do. These are serious oversights and violate Apple's interface guidelines. Rather than letting the OS draw the windows, Britannica decided to create it's own windowing system within the application, complete with desktop. This system is inferior both functionally and graphically to Aqua. Additionally, this means the application's window takes almost the whole screen and is not resizable. This makes working with multiple applications needlessly cumbersome. While text can be cut and paste into other applications, pictures and multimedia cannot. This needlessly restricts content when working on a report in anything but the limited sub-application Research Organizer. Searching is decent, but is not very forgiving with spelling. A spell check button is available that opens an application modal dialog with pull down menus of suggested replacement words for each one you entered. But it isn't that good for spell checking. For instance, typing "attak" gives you attack, but also 90 other seemingly random words covering the gamut between "Athos" and "wadi." The Knowledge Navigator has potential to be a useful search/browse tool but, like much of the interface, is poorly implemented. It is a data association program which starts with a ring of 10 topics. Clicking on one moves it to the center and surrounds it with up to ten related topics, this can be repeated to refine a search or simply browse ideas. Unfortunately, the designer decided that it needed each topic needs to float out from the central one and individually take its place in the ring. The effect is up to 17 seconds of animation each time you change topics. The eye-candy gets old real fast when it interferes with your work. The interactive timeline is a nice feature that lets you view key events in 14 subjects chronologically and provides links to more information. It took 8 seconds to load, but (much more aggravating) 10 seconds simply to view all timeline subjects you may select by scrolling through a list at the bottom at a fixed, sedate speed. The Atlas is similar to a globe in detail. Maps only go to the country level with more detailed maps for US states and the occasional random area. Clicking on major cities and regions gives a brief article. The program includes Merriam-Webster�s Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, but their entries are accessible only through the main encyclopedia search, no separate applications. The text of the encyclopedia itself seems good. Multimedia is weak. There are only 55 Quicktime files, most fewer than 20 seconds and only one exceeding one minute. Some of the video is poor in quality and the typical resolution is only 160x120 for video and 320x240 for animations. Additional multimedia content on Britannica's website is oddly available only in Windows Media or Real Player format. This encyclopedia does have some good information and, despite it's many flaws, may offer you more rapid access to some reliable material than the internet. However, the interface is very poor and non-standard and may prove frustrating. With a little bit of effort Britannica could have made this a far better Macintosh product. It is not horribly expensive, but I would be inclined to pass on it. World Book 2003 Mac OS X - Jaguar Edition is the competing encyclopedia for the Macintosh OS X and, while more expensive, is probably worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: A Macintosh Centric Review
Review: Test System: PowerMac G4 AGP 400 MHz with 896 MB RAM and a Radeon 8500
OS: Mac OS 10.2.3 (build 6G30) While Britannica 2003 runs on OS X, it is not truly native. Rather, it is a Java based application designed on the Windows platform. Java is cross-platform, but without some minor changes to optimize an application for the Mac the experience may be poor. Unfortunately, Brtiannica did not make that effort... and it shows. Installation was a hassle. The first installation program you see (and the one the readme tells you to use) fails, you have to open the folder "Extract" then "MacOSX" to find a working one. The full install requires that you switch CDs midway and ejects the first disk, but fails to unmount it in the Finder. It also ejects the second disk when finished without unmounting. The installer suffered an unexpected quit as it finished too. Attempting to unmount the ghost disk icons hangs the Finder and requires a relaunch (not a restart). The application took 19 seconds to load, but once loaded performance was generally acceptable. Slower than a native application, but faster than a broadband internet connection and this is on a 3 year old computer, albeit with lots of RAM. Unfortunately, the interface is completely non-Macintosh. The menu bar is not utilized, instead File, Edit, etc. are stuck in the application. "Britannica Help" under the Help menu does not work. Additionally, key equivalents are still mapped for Windows, so some standard command-key combination won't work and control instead of command must be used for those that do. These are serious oversights and violate Apple's interface guidelines. Rather than letting the OS draw the windows, Britannica decided to create it's own windowing system within the application, complete with desktop. This system is inferior both functionally and graphically to Aqua. Additionally, this means the application's window takes almost the whole screen and is not resizable. This makes working with multiple applications needlessly cumbersome. While text can be cut and paste into other applications, pictures and multimedia cannot. This needlessly restricts content when working on a report in anything but the limited sub-application Research Organizer. Searching is decent, but is not very forgiving with spelling. A spell check button is available that opens an application modal dialog with pull down menus of suggested replacement words for each one you entered. But it isn't that good for spell checking. For instance, typing "attak" gives you attack, but also 90 other seemingly random words covering the gamut between "Athos" and "wadi." The Knowledge Navigator has potential to be a useful search/browse tool but, like much of the interface, is poorly implemented. It is a data association program which starts with a ring of 10 topics. Clicking on one moves it to the center and surrounds it with up to ten related topics, this can be repeated to refine a search or simply browse ideas. Unfortunately, the designer decided that it needed each topic needs to float out from the central one and individually take its place in the ring. The effect is up to 17 seconds of animation each time you change topics. The eye-candy gets old real fast when it interferes with your work. The interactive timeline is a nice feature that lets you view key events in 14 subjects chronologically and provides links to more information. It took 8 seconds to load, but (much more aggravating) 10 seconds simply to view all timeline subjects you may select by scrolling through a list at the bottom at a fixed, sedate speed. The Atlas is similar to a globe in detail. Maps only go to the country level with more detailed maps for US states and the occasional random area. Clicking on major cities and regions gives a brief article. The program includes Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, but their entries are accessible only through the main encyclopedia search, no separate applications. The text of the encyclopedia itself seems good. Multimedia is weak. There are only 55 Quicktime files, most fewer than 20 seconds and only one exceeding one minute. Some of the video is poor in quality and the typical resolution is only 160x120 for video and 320x240 for animations. Additional multimedia content on Britannica's website is oddly available only in Windows Media or Real Player format. This encyclopedia does have some good information and, despite it's many flaws, may offer you more rapid access to some reliable material than the internet. However, the interface is very poor and non-standard and may prove frustrating. With a little bit of effort Britannica could have made this a far better Macintosh product. It is not horribly expensive, but I would be inclined to pass on it. World Book 2003 Mac OS X - Jaguar Edition is the competing encyclopedia for the Macintosh OS X and, while more expensive, is probably worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Britannica 2003 worst edition yet
Review: The new Britannica 2003 is one of the most disgracefully dysfunctional electronic encyclopaedias I have encountered. It is so poor compared with the 2002 edition (which Heaven knows had its problems - e.g. failure of the DVD to load to hard-drive)that one suspects were Encarta agents sabotaging the design and production processes they could scarcely have made the product more unsatisfactory! It is much, much slower in its searches than the 2002 edition (don't believe a previous review's claim about the need for sufficient RAM to achieve lightening speed - I have loads, yet the 2003 is still between 5 -10 times slower than the 2002 depending on the type of search). The dictionary does not permit double-clicking of words in the text of articles for their definitions (the 2002 edition did). The new interface is more awkward to use than its predecessor. Need one go on? Have Britannica released a dodgy beta version for the holiday season or have they quite lost the plot? My advice to potential purchasers is to skip the 2003 offerings and to buy the 2002 Deluxe edition on CDs (it loads to your hard-drive, unlike the 2002 DVD version) and hope that next year Britannica gets its act together. The Britannica is a superb encyclopedia in range and content. If only its current electronic incarnation were worthy of it!
Rating: 
Summary: Britannica 2003 Deluxe Edition MS Windows CD Version
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: This has got to be one of the worst pieces of software I've purchased in years. Don't waste your time. Slow would be a compliment. The Atlas is useless. No direct dictionary search or browse. Just a generic search that searches everything. If you cann't spell the word it doesn't find it.
Rating:
Summary: Very difficult and often impossible to install
Review: 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 ! ??
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