Consumer Software Updated

Annual updates to most of Microsoft’s consumer home software products have been released. These products, including Encarta, Money, Streets and Trips, and Student, boost Microsoft’s presence in the retail channel and are often bundled by OEMs. However, another product from this division, Works, has not been updated, and rumors abound that Microsoft will release a hosted, online-only version.

New Versions

By mid-October 2006, Microsoft had released annual updates to the following consumer software products:

Encarta Premium 2007 includes updated entries and more multimedia content than its predecessors but has no major new features. It retails for US$50 after a US$10 rebate. The product is no longer available in lower-end editions.

Student 2007 is the first update to Microsoft’s bundle for students in secondary school and older. Student includes Encarta Premium; access to the MSN Encarta Premium online service (which otherwise costs US$25 per year); tools for helping students with math and foreign language study; and Learning Essentials, a set of add-on templates and toolbars for Office that help students complete homework assignments. The 2007 version of the product includes new tutorials on math and science and a new graphical equation calculator. The product retails for US$70 (with US$20 rebate).