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Charles Moore Reviews Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite
A few years ago, when CD-ROMs were still the “next big thing,” I saw a cartoon which depicted a CD labeled “The Compleat Works Of Everybody.” That’s a slight exaggeration in concept, even with today’s even more capacious DVD-ROMs, but it does capture the enormous storage capacity of optical disk technology. 
The “Complete Works Of Everybody” caption came to mind as I perused the inventory of what’s packaged in Encyclopedia Britannica’s Ultimate Reference Suite for 2003, which incorporates three encyclopedias: The Encyclopedia Britannica; Britannica Student Encyclopedia; and Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia. But that’s just for starters. Also included are the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster’s Student Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus, the Merriam-Webster’s Student Thesaurus, a World Atlas and a Timeline resource -- both with elementary, student, and adult reference content; a Research Organizer; Britannica’s KnowledgeNavigator interactive browser, and links to 220,000 Web sites and to magazines online. In all, there are 91,000 encyclopedia articles, plus 21,000 images, videos, and animations, all on either one DVD or three CD-ROMs. The Ultimate Reference Suite is billed as “an expanded multimedia product for information seekers of all ages, from grade school to graduate school and beyond,” and the product delivers on that description. The encyclopedias are: The Encyclopedia Britannica -- a reference standard since 1768, recently revised, and ideal for both in-depth research and finding quick facts. The ultimate reference Suite includes the complete text of the print Britannica and more -- 75,000 articles, many written by Nobel laureates and other renowned contributors. The Britannica Student Encyclopedia, created by Britannica’s editors for students in the upper elementary, middle, and high school, with 15,000 entries geared to school subjects and presented in an accessible style for students. Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia - written so the young children can find information with it almost as soon as they can read, this is a special reference work for children in the early grades, and designed to instill a look-it-up habit will stay with them in school and throughout life. The four Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus resources provide about 555,000 definitions, synonyms and antonyms, which are linked from encyclopedia articles, as well as being individually searchable. The World Atlas includes more than 1,300 maps --also click-linked to encyclopedia articles. The 25 Britannica Timelines show people, events, and discoveries of the past, with 4,900 photos points linked to related articles for expanded reference. The KnowledgeNavigator is an intuitive browser which allows you to explore a particular topic in depth using multiple links. 
The Research Organizer is designed to help you manage research projects, with special tools that allow you to enter Notes, save bookmarks and photos, and format reports. 
The Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite requires Mac OS X 0.1 or higher (or Windows 98, 2000, Me, XP, NT), and offers three optional levels of installation on your hard drive. The Minimal installation installs the basic program and a few data files on the hard drive. This version requires about 400 MB of free disk space. When using the encyclopedia with this installation, you will need to keep either with the DVD data disk or the appropriate CD-ROM disk in your optical drive. Disk switching will be necessary with the CD-ROM version. The Custom installation option installs the basic program plus your choice of additional data resources on the hard drive. Data install Options include: Articles and thumbnail images - 650 MB The requirement for keeping a data disk in your optical drive and for disc switching with the CD-ROM version will depend on which data resources you choose to install. The full installation installs the basic program plus all data files on your hard drive, and allows you to run the Ultimate Reference Suite without using any optical disk after the initial installation is complete. This installation will require a whopping 2.4 GB of free hard disk space, and it’s the one I would recommend if you have plenty of free space on your hard drive, and plan to use the Resource Suite often. Aside from convenience, it will cut down in on wear and tear on your optical Drive, especially with the CD-ROM version, and should be faster as well. Unfortunately, OS X partition has only about 1,5 GB of free space left so for this review I opted for the minimal installation and kept the DVD in the drive The installer requires you to uninstall a previous versions of Britannica Software by dragging the folder (which is inside the Application Support folder, in the Library folder, in your Home folder) to the trash. , then restarting your computer and turning off any virus scanning software. To install, insert the DVD data disk or the installer CD in your optical drive. If the installation doesn’t automatically start up, double-click the Britannica disk icon and choose Install Britannica. You will be asked to type in the serial number provided on the disk case. The number is shown on the case in three groups of alphanumerics, but I found that it wouldn't work until I left that the spaces separating the groups. Select an install folder, (or accept the default), choose one of the three installation types described above, and let the installer do its thing. With the CD-ROM version, you will be prompted to switch disks in the CD-ROM drive as necessary. A full install may take as long as 45 minutes. My Minimal install took roughly seven minutes. 
The installation process went smoothly for me other than the hiccup over the serial number syntax. Progress bars keep you informed as to how the installation is proceeding. Once the install was complete, I double-clicked the Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite icon on the Desktop. The program’s main interface is of the multiple-paned window variety, with navigation and browsing controls on the left, and content appearing in the right-hand window. The left hand pane is divided into a control panel with tabbed library selections, search fields, and buttons at the top, and a search results window below. The search results allow you to choose the sort of reference you wish to consult: 
Encyclopedia - articles 
You can search by typing in a word or phrase, or browse the encyclopedia alphabetically. The control panel also contains buttons for accessing the World Atlas, the Britannica time lines, and the knowledge Navigator. The Atlas maps allow you to gradually click in to narrow the area depicted. Here’s North America, and then Nova Scotia, where I live. 
The Timeline reference was quite interesting, with Architecture, Art, Childhood, Daily Life, Ecology, Exploration, Literature, Medicine, Music, Religion, Science, Sports, Technology, And Women categories. I liked the layout and the information formatting, but I couldn’t drag the pointer along the Timeline to change content, and had to click through the entries one by one using the click buttons, which was a bit tiresome. Since the Timeline pointer looks like it is meant to be a draggable control, I’m wondering if this feature has a bug. 
I was pleased to see that old Bjarni Herjulfsson is recognized as being the first recorded European to lay eyes on North America, although Bjarni the Cautious didn’t land. In the Technology Timeline, the first computer microchip by Intel in 1971 gets an entry, as does the release of Windows ‘95, but not the release of the first Macintosh in 1984, which ushered in the personal-computer GUI era. Boo on that omission. The Ultimate Reference Suite interface is very Windows-like, except for the 0S X “traffic lights” in the title bar. I won’t hold that too much against it. I’m just glad there is a Mac port of this product. However, I’m always taken aback by how ugly the Windows interface conventions are, with their stark fonts and cryptic little tool button icons. Speaking of which, online content buttons automatically launch Internet Explorer. The main interface window fills the entire screen, at least it did on the 14.1 in., 1024 x 768 screen of my Pismo PowerBook. I had no luck downsizing it. The green zoom button just reduced it by the width of the Dock. However, content subwindows resized just fine. 
Encyclopedia articles contain links to things like flags, images, maps, statistics, and tables. You can also save text and image notes, which can be viewed in the research organizer, which contains tools for helping to create a research report. 
To arrange notes in an outline, open the tools menu, select Research Organizer, create a new project floats folder, and drag-and-drop your notes into it. You can edit your note text and outline structure by selecting outline view from the tool bar, or create new notes from scratch. You can also add your own JPEG or GIF images, say, from a digital camera , to a research organizer report . When you’re finished, you can print your report or export it as HTML to view in a Web browser. The Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite packaging is very attractive, with white and silver embossed lettering on a rich dark green background for the DVD version and blue for the CD-ROM version. I thought the photo of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who died this year, was a classy inclusion among the illustrations of the front of the box. The front flap of the box, secured with Velcro, opens to reveal an attractive illustrated overview of the product features. 
I thought it was somewhat curious that the DVD version box is about three times the size of the CD-ROM version box, even though the latter includes a case with four CD’s (including the Installer disk), while the DVD version contains just one lone DVD jewel case. Marketing I guess. Performance was reasonably responsive on my 500 MHz Pismo G3 PowerBook, although not scintillatingly fast by any means, especially for things that involved calls to the DVD. I’m sure the full hard drive install would speed things up, and a faster processor would be welcome too, although the minimum specified is a 350 MHz G3. The Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2003 is a tremendous resource. The mind boggles at the amount of information it contains, the easy searchability, and the modest price compared with what print editions of the resources would cost. To say nothing of the storage space required. I’ve loved encyclopedias since I was a little kid, and I could never have imagined a research tool like this when I was in school. If there are students in your household, the Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite is a virtual must-have. Applelinks Rating: 
System requirements: The Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite sells for $69.95, or $49.95 after a mail-in rebate. For more information, visit:
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