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Microsoft Bookshelf 2000 | 
 enlarge | From: Microsoft
Category: Software
List Price: $54.95
Buy Used: $19.95
You Save: $35.00 (64%)
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 3861
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 95
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows ME
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 3.5 x 1.3
Model: 086-00124
UPC: 093007878505
EAN: 0093007878505
ASIN: B00002JV9U
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Includes: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Roget's Thesaurus, Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Encyclopedia, Atlas, and more.
Amazon.com Product Description
By providing instant and integrated access to nine top reference resources, Bookshelf 2000 is the ultimate writer's companion. You'll radically improve your documents, presentations, and e-mails with these writing tools. You can even install American Heritage Dictionary definitions and Roget's Thesaurus entries on your hard drive for instant access to definitions and synonyms. Integration with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows makes it a snap to transfer text, images, and articles back into Office documents. One-click access to all Bookshelf resources makes finding what you need easy and fast. Bookshelf 2000 provides instant and integrated access to these nine top reference resources: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition; The Original Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases; The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations; Encarta Manual of Style and Usage; Microsoft Press Computer and Internet; Encarta Desk Encyclopedia; Encarta Desk World Atlas; The Encarta 2000 New World Almanac; and The Encarta 2000 New World Timeline.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great companion utility! May 17, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've utilized several iterations of Microsoft Bookshelf for several years and still find it an essential utility for any kind of correspondence. From simple emails to reports to resumes; Bookshelf with the QuickShelf function in the tray provides a fast and easy check for spelling, definition, synonym, etc.
Although designed for earlier Windows OS, it does function fine with any NT 5 platform. Sometimes Bookshelf 2K "burps" with XP-SP2 but clicking 'Ignore' usually solves that problem. Even after >9 years since being released (an eternity PC-wise) this little gem still shines.
An unfortunate casualty April 30, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
2006 and I'm still using this little beauty. Clean interface, great dictionary/thesaurus, and an indispensable style guide. A searchable quotation database and an adequate world map feature add to this haiku of a program.
Microsoft dumped this in 2001 and replaced it with Encarta. Too bad. I wish they still made software like this...it does more with less.
 Still Worth a Look January 5, 2005
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
To consider an out-of-date software package like Bookshelf 2000, you must deal with the fact that encyclopedias, atlases, and especially almanacs don't exactly age like fine wine. I will therefore spare you a discussion of these parts of Bookshelf.
Once you have made your peace with that, Bookshelf is still worthwhile for the dictionary and thesaurus, which resist aging. You can save these to your hard drive (for quick access) and keep the CD handy for the style manual, quotations, and timeline.
The dictionary is an "updated" iteration of the late, great Third Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, not the Fourth Edition released in 2000. A lot has happened to the English language since the Third was released in 1994. The updating is selective and runs from '94-`00: Hence, there is "dot com," but "blog" is missing. I can live with this, but a verbal fashionista might not be able to.
The updated version of The Original Roget's Thesaurus of the English Words and Phrases is the most valuable part of the software. You could conceivably memorize a dictionary, but the thicket of linkages between the 250,000+ synonyms? Forget that.
Finally, a thesaurus and dictionary are much more powerful tools used in combination. The problem with using a thesaurus without a dictionary handy is that it tricks you into thinking words are more interchangeable than they really are (e.g., steel-blue vs. slate-blue).
Because there are so many free reference works available on that reference library called the Internet, it is easy to think of a Bookshelf program as retro in a not-good 1990s way. That would be a mistake. Four stars.
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