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The Encyclopaedia Britannica, the oldest English-language encyclopaedia, has released its annual software edition, which is available in three different versions - the Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Edition, Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe and Encyclopaedia Britannica Student Edition.

These newest versions of the encyclopaedia build on the success of previous editions, with updated Britannica Biographies, Classical Music, and a great workspace for project management.

Ideal for research homework or everyday fact-finding, the Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Edition has three age-specific learning areas for ages six to adult, making it simple for all users to find exactly what they need. With three encyclopaedias in one, this reference suite boasts a vast array of detailed articles on a huge range of subjects.

Designed for adults and students alike, the Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe Edition is a comprehensive reference resource that provides up-to-date in-depth and easy-to-use information. Articles are written by Nobel laureates, historians and notable experts, and search results are organised by relevance, not popularity or paid placement.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica Student Edition comes replete with a Homework Helpdesk, "how to" documents, and interactive games, activities, as well as math and science tutorials. This version of the encyclopaedia provides detailed articles and comprehensive learning tools to help students of all levels excel in school. Including a student library and a children's library, the Encyclopaedia Britannica Student Edition provides up-to-date, trusted and accurate information to help children of all ages improve the skills learned at school.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica software comes bundled with an atlas, with up to 1 800 maps linked to articles and World Data Profiles of individual countries and territories - depending on the version - as well as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus, classic articles from previous editions, interactive timelines, a research organiser, and a knowledge navigator.

“In its new form, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is user-friendly, with a user interface that is intuitive and uncluttered and is great fun to use,” explains Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of Encyclopaedia Britannica's local distributor, Phoenix Software. “It offers morsels of knowledge, some of it date-specific, appetisingly presented through great visuals and highly edifying interactive tours of articles and attendant media.”

He adds that the user-friendliness of the software even extends into the search functionality. “When you enter even the first few letters of a term in the search box, it offers various options and is persistent: no need to click on the toolbar's 'search' button every time you want to find something in this vast storehouse of knowledge. In addition, the user can save search results onto handy 'Virtual Notecards'.”

Encyclopaedia Britannica's display is tab-based, avoiding the erstwhile confusing proliferation of windows with every move, and articles appear in full, not in sections. This facilitates the finding of relevant keywords in and the printing of entire texts. While the Encyclopaedia Britannica provides considerably more text than any other extant traditional encyclopaedia, print or digital (a total of 62 million words), it has noticeably enhanced its non-textual content over the years and now boasts in excess of 30 000 images and illustrations (depending on the version) and 900 video and audio clips. This is not to mention the Britannica Classics: articles from Britannica's most famous contributors: from Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein to Harry Houdini, and from Marie Curie to Orville Wright.

“This encyclopaedia fully supports serious research,” says Campbell-Young. “It is a sober assemblage of first-rate essays, up-to-date bibliographies, and relevant multimedia. It constitutes a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy. For less than the price of an anti-virus software and for a fraction of the cost of Windows 7, you will significantly enhance your access to the sum total of human knowledge and wisdom.”