# Microsoft Home
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Microsoft_Home
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Microsoft_Home.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Home
> Source revision: 1353440284
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|Defunct line of products by Microsoft}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Microsoft Home
| logo = Microsoft Home.png
| screenshot =
| caption =
| developer = [Microsoft](/source/Microsoft)
| released = {{Start date and age|1993||}}
| discontinued = Yes
| latest_release_date = 1998
| operating_system = [Microsoft Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows)
| language = [English](/source/English_language)
| genre = Various
| license = [Proprietary](/source/Proprietary_software)
}}
'''Microsoft Home''' is a discontinued line of software applications and personal hardware products published by [Microsoft](/source/Microsoft). The Microsoft Home brand was first announced by Bill Gates in a presentation on October 4, 1993.[[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/history/history-of-microsoft-1993 The History of Microsoft - 1993]] These applications were designed to bring multimedia to [Microsoft Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows) and [Macintosh](/source/Apple_Macintosh) personal computers. With more than 60 products available under the Microsoft Home brand by 1994, the company's push into the consumer market took off. [Microsoft Plus!](/source/Microsoft_Plus!), an add-on enhancement package for Windows, continued until the [Windows XP](/source/Windows_XP) era. The range of home software catered for many different consumer interests from gaming with [Microsoft Arcade](/source/Microsoft_Arcade) and [Entertainment Packs](/source/Microsoft_Entertainment_Pack) to reference titles such as [Microsoft Encarta](/source/Microsoft_Encarta), [Bookshelf](/source/Microsoft_Bookshelf) and [Cinemania](/source/Microsoft_Cinemania). Shortly after the release of Microsoft [Windows 95](/source/Windows_95), the company began to reduce the price of Microsoft Home products and by the rise of the [World Wide Web](/source/World_Wide_Web) by 1998, Microsoft began to phase out the line of software.
== Titles ==
Microsoft Home produced software for all different home uses and environments.[[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/microsoft-to-sever-dorling-ties-1581253.html Microsoft to sever Dorling ties]]
=== Reference and exploration software ===
Microsoft Home Reference products brought information to [Multimedia Personal Computers](/source/Multimedia_PC) - it was an effective way of presenting and exploring information before the [World Wide Web](/source/World_Wide_Web) became mainstream. These products were embellished with [hyperlink](/source/hyperlink) relatively new at this time. Most of these products were released on [CD-ROM](/source/CD-ROM), giving the software the ability to display high-resolution graphics and animations, and play high-quality waveforms and [MIDI](/source/MIDI) files. These products proved that personal computers would revolutionize the way that we find and explore information.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name
!Year of Release
!Retail Price when New
|-
|[Microsoft Encarta](/source/Microsoft_Encarta)
|1993–2009
|US$99.95/CAD$139.95
|-
|Microsoft Encarta Africana
|1999-2001 (Later merged into Encarta)
|
|-
|[Microsoft Bookshelf](/source/Microsoft_Bookshelf)
|1987, 1992, 1994-2000
|US$69.95/CAD$99.95
|-
|[Microsoft Cinemania](/source/Microsoft_Cinemania)
|1994-1997
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Automap Streets, Streets Plus (then Expedia Streets & [Microsoft Streets & Trips](/source/Microsoft_Streets_%26_Trips))
|1995-2013
|
|-
|Microsoft Automap Road Atlas (then Expedia Trip Planner & [Microsoft Streets & Trips](/source/Microsoft_Streets_%26_Trips))
|1995-2013
|
|-
|Microsoft AutoRoute Express (then [Microsoft AutoRoute](/source/Microsoft_AutoRoute))
|1995-2013
|-
|[Microsoft Music Central](/source/Microsoft_Music_Central)
|1996-1997
|
|-
|Microsoft Complete Baseball
|1994-1995
|US$49.95/CAD$69.95
|-
|Microsoft Complete NBA Basketball
|1994-1996
|US$49.95/CAD$69.95
|-
|Microsoft Complete Gardening
|1996
|
|-
|Microsoft Reader's Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide
|1996
|
|-
|Microsoft Oceans
|1995
|
|-
|Microsoft 500 Nations (North American Indian tribes and civilizations)
|1995
|
|-
|Microsoft World of Flight
|1995
|
|-
|[Microsoft Ancient Lands](/source/Microsoft_Ancient_Lands)
|1994
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|[Microsoft Dinosaurs](/source/Microsoft_Dinosaurs)
|1993
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|[Microsoft Dangerous Creatures](/source/Microsoft_Dangerous_Creatures)
|1994
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Dogs
|1995
|
|-
|Microsoft Musical Instruments
|1992
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Isaac Asimov's The Ultimate Robot
|1993
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|[Microsoft Art Gallery](/source/Microsoft_Art_Gallery)
|1994
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Wine Guide
|1995
|
|-
|Microsoft Julia Child: Home Cooking with Master Chefs
|1995
|
|-
|Microsoft The Ultimate Frank Lloyd Wright: America's Architect
|1994
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Composer Collection
|1995
|US$79.95/CAD$109.95
|-
|Microsoft Multimedia Mozart: The Dissonant Quartet
|1992–1995
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Multimedia Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony
|1992–1995
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Multimedia Schubert: The Trout Quintet
|1992–1995
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Multimedia Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
|1992–1995
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|-
|Microsoft Multimedia Strauss: Three Tone Poems
|1992–1995
|US$59.95/CAD$79.95
|}
===Entertainment===
In the early 1990s, games on personal computers generally ran on the now obsolete [MS-DOS](/source/MS-DOS) operating system. However, with the introduction of Microsoft [Windows 3.1x](/source/Windows_3.1x) in 1992, Microsoft Home published several entertainment applications that implemented the new technologies of Microsoft Windows such as [DirectX](/source/DirectX). Furthermore, these applications encouraged the [computer gamers](/source/Computer_games) of the time to migrate from MS-DOS to Microsoft Windows. This transition permitted better use of computer graphics, revolutionized [game programming](/source/game_programming) and resulted in a more realistic gaming experience, compared to DOS gaming.[[https://www.pcgamer.com/history-direct-x-windows-microsoft/ How DirectX defined PC gaming 25 years ago, Windows began to do what DOS didn’t and changed the face of videogame development]] For example, Microsoft [Windows Entertainment Pack](/source/Windows_Entertainment_Pack) Games have remained a classic for computer gamers, ever since their development in the early 1990s.[[https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-entertainment-pack-retrospective/ Looking back on your favorite Windows time wasters with the guys who made them]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name
!Year of Release
!Retail Price when New
|-
|Microsoft [Fury3](/source/Fury3)
|1995
|
|-
|Microsoft Hellbender (Sequel of [Fury3](/source/Fury3))
|1996
|-
|Microsoft [Deadly Tide](/source/Deadly_Tide) (underwater fighting machines)
|1996
|
|-
|[Microsoft Flight Simulator](/source/History_of_Microsoft_Flight_Simulator)
|1982, 1993-2006
|US$49.95/CAD$64.95
|-
|Scenery Enhancements for Microsoft Flight Simulator Version 5.0:
*Microsoft Caribbean
*Microsoft Hawaii
*Microsoft Japan
*Microsoft Paris
*Microsoft New York
|1995
|US$34.95/CAD$49.95
|-
|[Microsoft Golf](/source/Links_(video_game))
|1993-2001
|US$49.95/CAD$69.95
|-
|Microsoft Golf Championship Courses:
*Mauna Kea Championship Course
*Banff Springs Championship Course
*Pinehurst Championship Course
|1993
|US$24.95/CAD$34.95
|-
|[Microsoft Space Simulator](/source/Microsoft_Space_Simulator)
|1995
|US$49.95/CAD$64.95
|-
|[Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack](/source/Best_of_Microsoft_Entertainment_Pack)
|1995
|US$24.95/CAD$34.95
|-
|[Microsoft Arcade](/source/Microsoft_Arcade)
|1993
|US$34.95/CAD$44.95
|-
|Microsoft Return of Arcade
|1996
|
|-
|Microsoft Revenge of Arcade
|1998
|
|-
|[Microsoft Pinball Arcade](/source/Microsoft_Pinball_Arcade)
|1998
|
|}
===Kids===
thumb|225px|right|Microsoft Kids logo
thumb|The purple cartoon character McZee was used as a mascot for the Microsoft Kids line.
The Microsoft Kids division produced [educational software](/source/educational_software) aimed at children in 1993. Their products feature a purple-skinned character named McZee who wears wacky attire and leads children through the fictional town of Imaginopolis, where each building or room is a unique interface to a different part of the software. He is accompanied by a different partner in each software title.
Tying in with the TV series, Microsoft [Scholastic's The Magic School Bus](/source/Scholastic's_The_Magic_School_Bus) was a highly successful series that continued to be sold after Microsoft Home's range of children's software turned into a subsidiary called [Microsoft Kids](/source/Microsoft_Kids).
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Year of Release
!Retail Price when New
|-
|Microsoft Scholastic's [The Magic School Bus](/source/List_of_video_games_from_The_Magic_School_Bus): (This was a series of software based on the television series of the same name. The user had to solve puzzles based on science in order to complete the game.)
*Explores Bugs
*Explores in the Age of the Dinosaurs
*Explores Inside the Earth
*Explores the Human Body
*Explores the Ocean
*Explores the Rainforest
*Explores the Solar System
*Explores the World of Animals
|1994-2000
|US$49.95/CAD$69.95
|-
|Microsoft [Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House](/source/The_Ultimate_Haunted_House) (A game designed by Gahan Wilson designed for children to explore an eerie Haunted House populated by strange inhabitants.)
|1993
|US$49.95/CAD$69.95
|-
|Microsoft [Creative Writer](/source/Creative_Writer) and [Creative Writer 2](/source/Creative_Writer_2) ([Word processors](/source/Word_processors) released in 1994 and 1996 respectively aimed specifically at children).[[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1996/oct96/kidspr.mspx Microsoft Gives Kids Tools and Technology To Unleash Their Imagination and Experience New Adventures]]
|1993
|US$49.95/CAD$69.95
|-
|Microsoft [Fine Artist](/source/Fine_Artist) (Drawing program that looked and felt similar to Creative Writer.)
|1993
|US$49.95/CAD$69.95
|-
|Ghostwriter Mysteries for Creative Writer
|1995
|US$19.95/CAD$29.95
|-
|P.J.'s Reading Adventures (Collection of three storybook adventures for children, ''[Paul Bunyan](/source/Paul_Bunyan)'', ''[How the Leopard Got His Spots](/source/Just_So_Stories)'' and ''[Koi and the Kola Nuts](/source/Rabbit_Ears_Productions)''.