`Encarta 96 World Atlas' Is Awesome Study Resource

I recently got a chance to use Microsoft's new program, "Encarta 96 World Atlas." A program like that makes you appreciate the awesome power of software driven by Microsoft's 4-month-old Windows 95 operating system.

The "Encarta World Atlas" isn't like any computer world atlas I've seen. It's much more than a series of maps coupled with some data here and there.

Two years in the making, "Encarta World Atlas" is really a geographic reference resource that should be on the shelf of every middle- and high-school student with an IBM-compatible computer - and, of course, Windows 95.

Using a CD-ROM, Microsoft has taken advantage of the huge storage capacity and put a wealth of information and maps under one title that should help make school term papers and reports extra special.

For example, the software identifies more than 1 million places and shows satellite imagery of 52 cities around the world. It teaches the pronunciation of 2,000 foreign phrases and gives 450 statistical indicators for each country spanning from 1965-95. You also can obtain population projections through the year 2020.

The maps are nothing short of incredible. The Encarta Atlas enables you to rotate a three-dimensional globe, zeroing in on a particular area. You can look at Earth from 31,000 miles up or zoom down to 124 miles. Sites as small as one mile in diameter can be identified on the maps or photographs.

But it doesn't stop there. Using video, audio and photographs, the program offers portraits of 31 families from around the world. With the click of a mouse, you can learn how the people in the photos live and work.

Add to that more than 5,000 articles about places and profiles of 192 countries.

But I left the best for last. The program is so easy to use, the manual is only a few pages. Cosmo, a little cartoon globe character, is always around to guide you.

The program, (800) 426-9400, sells for about $50 at most software retailers.