The earth's best-known encyclopedia  announced today that it would no longer publish print editions. Like so many newspapers and publishing houses, Encyclopedia Britannica is going completely digital.   Jorge Cauz is President of Encyclopedia Britannica.He says the company is now focusing on digital learning. "We're digital, we're mobile, and we're social," said Cauz. "We're a very different company from 20 or 30 years ago." Britannica encyclopedias were first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. Americans started buying them at the turn of the 20thcentury. In the mid- 1900s, salesmen would go door-to-door to sell the books. The company's first digital reference was created in1981. CD-ROMs came out in1989 and Britannica went to the Web in 1994. But Britannica didn't take the electronic world very seriously during the last 20 years. Because people turned to the Internet, the company's sales went down.   What hasn't changed is the way Britannica creates its material. The company has thousands of expert writers and more than 100 editors. Contributors include many scholars, Nobel  _ and world leaders, such as Bill Clinton and Desmond Tutu.   Britannica's website also provides educational tools. At Britannica Online School Edition, teachers share lesson plans. Online versions of the encyclopedia serve more than 100 million people around the world. The company plans to mark the end of print edition by making the contents of its website free for one week. Why does the President of Encyclopedia Britannicadecide not to publish its print editions any more?
Because many publishing houses follow this pattern. Because the company's sales are lower than expected. Because people don't show any interest in encyclopedia. Because the company don't take print editions seriously.