Microsoft Home is a discontinued line of software applications and personal hardware products published by Microsoft. The Microsoft Home brand was first announced by Bill Gates in a presentation on October 4, 1993.The History of Microsoft - 1993 These applications were designed to bring multimedia to Microsoft Windows and 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!, an add-on enhancement package for Windows, continued until the Windows XP era. The range of home software catered for many different consumer interests from gaming with Microsoft Arcade and Entertainment Packs to reference titles such as Microsoft Encarta, Bookshelf and Cinemania. Shortly after the release of Microsoft Windows 95, the company began to reduce the price of Microsoft Home products and by the rise of the 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. The products are divided into five categories: Reference & Exploration, Entertainment, Kids, Home Productivity and Sounds, and Sights & Gear. The category in which the product was divided is identifiable by the packaging. Generally, Reference & Exploration products have a purple base color, Entertainment has a black base color, Kids has a yellow base color, Home Productivity has a green color and Sounds, Sights & Gear products have a grey or red base color. Note that many applications were developed in conjunction with other software and reference companies. For example, Microsoft Musical Instruments was developed with Dorling Kindersley.Microsoft to sever Dorling ties
Reference and exploration software Microsoft Home Reference products brought information to Multimedia Personal Computers - it was an effective way of presenting and exploring information before the World Wide Web became mainstream. These products were embellished with hyperlink relatively new at this time. Most of these products were released on CD-ROM, giving the software the ability to display high-resolution graphics and animations, and play high-quality waveforms and MIDI files. These products proved that personal computers would revolutionize the way that we find and explore information. NameYear of ReleaseRetail Price when NewMicrosoft Encarta1993–2009US$99.95/CAD$139.95Microsoft Encarta Africana1999-2001 (Later merged into Encarta)Microsoft Bookshelf1987, 1992, 1994-2000US$69.95/CAD$99.95Microsoft Cinemania1994-1997US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Automap Streets, Streets Plus (then Expedia Streets & Microsoft Streets & Trips)1995-2013Microsoft Automap Road Atlas (then Expedia Trip Planner & Microsoft Streets & Trips)1995-2013Microsoft AutoRoute Express (then Microsoft AutoRoute)1995-2013Microsoft Music Central1996-1997Microsoft Complete Baseball1994-1995US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Complete NBA Basketball1994-1996US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Complete Gardening1996Microsoft Reader's Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide1996Microsoft Oceans1995Microsoft 500 Nations (North American Indian tribes and civilizations)1995Microsoft World of Flight1995Microsoft Ancient Lands1994US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Dinosaurs1993US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Dangerous Creatures1994US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Dogs1995Microsoft Musical Instruments1992US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Isaac Asimov's The Ultimate Robot1993US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Art Gallery1994US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Wine Guide1995Microsoft Julia Child: Home Cooking with Master Chefs1995Microsoft The Ultimate Frank Lloyd Wright: America's Architect1994US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Composer Collection1995US$79.95/CAD$109.95Microsoft Multimedia Mozart: The Dissonant Quartet1992–1995US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Multimedia Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony1992–1995US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Multimedia Schubert: The Trout Quintet1992–1995US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Multimedia Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring1992–1995US$59.95/CAD$79.95Microsoft Multimedia Strauss: Three Tone Poems1992–1995US$59.95/CAD$79.95
Entertainment In the early 1990s, games on personal computers generally ran on the now obsolete MS-DOS operating system. However, with the introduction of Microsoft Windows 3.1x in 1992, Microsoft Home published several entertainment applications that implemented the new technologies of Microsoft Windows such as DirectX. Furthermore, these applications encouraged the computer gamers of the time to migrate from MS-DOS to Microsoft Windows. This transition permitted better use of computer graphics, revolutionized game programming and resulted in a more realistic gaming experience, compared to DOS gaming.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 Games have remained a classic for computer gamers, ever since their development in the early 1990s.Looking back on your favorite Windows time wasters with the guys who made them
NameYear of ReleaseRetail Price when NewMicrosoft Fury31995Microsoft Hellbender (Sequel of Fury3)1996Microsoft Deadly Tide (underwater fighting machines)1996Microsoft Flight Simulator1982, 1993-2006US$49.95/CAD$64.95Scenery Enhancements for Microsoft Flight Simulator Version 5.0: Microsoft Caribbean Microsoft Hawaii Microsoft Japan Microsoft Paris Microsoft New York1995US$34.95/CAD$49.95Microsoft Golf1993-2001US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Golf Championship Courses: Mauna Kea Championship Course Banff Springs Championship Course Pinehurst Championship Course1993US$24.95/CAD$34.95Microsoft Space Simulator1995US$49.95/CAD$64.95Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack1995US$24.95/CAD$34.95Microsoft Arcade1993US$34.95/CAD$44.95Microsoft Return of Arcade1996Microsoft Revenge of Arcade1998Microsoft Pinball Arcade1998
Kids
The Microsoft Kids division produced 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 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.
NameYear of ReleaseRetail Price when NewMicrosoft Scholastic's 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 Animals1994-2000US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House (A game designed by Gahan Wilson designed for children to explore an eerie Haunted House populated by strange inhabitants.)1993US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Creative Writer and Creative Writer 2 (Word processors released in 1994 and 1996 respectively aimed specifically at children).Microsoft Gives Kids Tools and Technology To Unleash Their Imagination and Experience New Adventures1993US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Fine Artist (Drawing program that looked and felt similar to Creative Writer.)1993US$49.95/CAD$69.95Ghostwriter Mysteries for Creative Writer1995US$19.95/CAD$29.95P.J.'s Reading Adventures (Collection of three storybook adventures for children, Paul Bunyan, How the Leopard Got His Spots and Koi and the Kola Nuts.)1995US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft 3D Movie Maker (Children-oriented program that allowed them to create their own movies using preset character animation and sounds)1995US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker (Used characters from the popular Nickelodeon animated series)1996US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Explorapedia: (These were two interactive children-oriented encyclopedias. It contained 400 articles accessed by clicking the appropriate picture in the environment.) The World of People The World of Nature1995US$49.95/CAD$69.95Microsoft Plus! for Kids (Windows 95 Plus Pack for Kids)1995US$24.95My Personal Tutor (Software-instructed learning for preschool to first grade)1997US$54.95ActiMates Toy characters and software titles based on Barney & Friends, Arthur, and Teletubbies1997US$64.95 for TV Pack and PC Pack, US$34.95 for software titles.
Home productivity software NameYear of ReleaseRetail Price when NewMicrosoft BOB1995US$99.00Microsoft Great Greetings for Microsoft BOB1995Microsoft Bob Plus Pack1995Microsoft Money1994-2008US$14.95/CAD$24.95Microsoft Publisher (Now part of Microsoft Office)1993–PresentUS$99.95/CAD$139.95Microsoft Publisher Design Packs: Microsoft Publisher StyleLine Design Pack Microsoft Publisher Design Pack Microsoft Publisher Special Occasions Design Pack1993US$39.95/CAD$54.95Microsoft Greetings Workshop1996-2002Microsoft Picture It! (rebranded as Microsoft Digital Image)1996Microsoft Home Publishing1999-2000Microsoft Works 3.0 for Windows1994US$99.95/CAD$139.95Microsoft Works 3.0 for Windows on CD1994US$99.95/CAD$139.95Microsoft Works 4.0 for MacintoshUS$99.95/CAD$139.95Microsoft Works and Bookshelf '941994US$99.95/CAD$139.95
Sights, Sounds & Gear
NameYear of ReleaseRetail Price when NewMicrosoft Scenes screensaver and wallpaper program Sierra Club Wildlife Collection Sierra Club Nature Collection Undersea Collection Sports Extremes Collection Personal Collection Outer Space Collection Flight Collection Hollywood Collection Brain Twister Collection Stereogram Collection Impressionist Collection1994US$24.95/CAD$34.95Microsoft Natural Keyboard1994US$99.95/CAD$129.95Microsoft Mouse1993US$64.95/CAD$84.95Microsoft Windows Sound System Version 2.01995US$59.95/CAD$84.95Microsoft Home Mouse1995US$44.95/CAD$59.95Microsoft SoundBits (sound schemes) Microsoft SoundBits - Hanna-Barbera Microsoft SoundBits - Hollywood Microsoft SoundBits - Musical Instruments1992–1994US$24.95/CAD$34.95
Legacy
Current products Microsoft Publisher is still available even today as a part of Microsoft Office, although it is in maintenance phase, there have been no feature enhancements for years after Publisher 2010. It is planned to discontinue in October of 2026 Microsoft Flight Simulator development was discontinued with the closure of ACES Game Studio. A replacement, Microsoft Flight, was later developed but subsequently also discontinued. However, the last version of the original software was later made available via Steam. In 2020, a brand-new Flight Simulator version was released with updated DirectX graphics technology. Microsoft Picture It! eventually became Microsoft Digital Image and was discontinued after the release of Windows Vista. Windows Photo Gallery, itself later discontinued, and its successor Photos include similar features.
Discontinued products Microsoft AutoMap later became Microsoft MapPoint and Microsoft Streets & Trips. This can be confirmed by "AutoMap" registry entries installed by these products. Both were discontinued in 2014. Microsoft Works was replaced by Office Starter 2010 which is available to OEMs for installation on new PCs only and does not include a replacement for the Works Database program. Office Starter 2010 was discontinued before Office 2013 was released, replaced by Office Online. Microsoft Encarta and Microsoft Money were discontinued in 2009, and no replacement products have been announced or released.
References
Microsoft Home Software Catalog Winter/Spring 1995 (from Microsoft The Ultimate Frank Lloyd Wright) 1194 Part No. 098-56862 Microsoft Knowledge Base