On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 10:21:37AM -0400, Scott wrote: >
> Another possibility might have been that until recently, there was no > Kindle for Linux, though OS X and Windows had a Kindle app, enabling you > to buy the Kindle edition without owning a Kindle. However, as of very > recently (early August, I think) Amazon released the Kindle Cloud > reader, which works in Chrome or Safari. I believe the idea was to > get around Apple being Apple, wanting something like 30 percent of > anything sold through its Kindle App store. > > > https://read.amazon.com/about For those who do own a Kindle, but want to either convert their purchased ebook to another format, or read it in Amazon's azw format, there is also the wonderful program Calibre. http://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux As the author mentions, in most cases, a distro's version is broken or buggy. One is better off getting it directly from the site. I've found it useful enough to inspire me to donate a small amount. As for Amazon locking you into their Kindle format, I believe they tried to be more opensource about it but the publishers wouldn't let them. As for avoiding companies that lock you in, it's not always practical, for a variety of reasons. As for Linux's target audience these days, that's a good question. My own arrogant opinion is that these days, the big distros are all targeting the less experienced desktop user. The upside is that more vendors are aware of Linux and providing support. The downside is Fedora putting in all these things for the desktop user that make it to RedHat, and which lessen RH's effectiveness as a server. I think in the old days, the sysadmins and developers were often the same people. Judging from a lot of things being developed today, it seems that the new crop of developers are smart phone users. (That goes for MS and Apple too--Lion and Windows 8 seemed aimed at the smartphone user.) -- Scott Robbins PGP keyID EB3467D6 ( 1B48 077D 66F6 9DB0 FDC2 A409 FA54 EB34 67D6 ) gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys EB3467D6 Cordelia: Buffy, these men are rich, and I am not being shallow. Think of all the poor people I could help with all my money. ------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this list, please email [email protected] & you will be removed.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
