-- Thanks for this thoughtful analysis, Ray. Cheers --
David Noel Jan 20 ======= On 20 January 2011 09:38, Ray Forma <[email protected]> wrote: > > We often comment disdainfully when other companies, such as Microsoft, try to > lock in users, conveniently forgetting that Apple is often just as guilty. > The article, <http://next.blurb.com/>, from which I extracted the following, > has further details about Apple's current exploits on the eBook stage. It > also covers many other eBook readers. > > The dark ages of e-books > > If you want to read an e-Book and you remember the early days of the Web, > you’re probably having a bad flashback. Reading devices like the Kindle, > Nook, and iPad all have separate bookstores and book formats, and their > makers (and other companies) are trying to create readers ‘locked in’ to > their device and bookstores. With the Web, the same things were tried. > Microsoft wanted people to use Microsoft DOC files as Web pages instead of > HTML. Apple wanted people to pay to use eWorld instead of the Web, for free. > AOL merged with Time Warner so that the combined companies could “extract > more value from our content than the Internet will allow.” > > Eventually, these business tactics always fail, but it doesn’t seem to stop > people from trying them. What really works, over and over again, is giving > the user more freedom, ownership and choice, not less. The Web, based on > simpler, publicly-available standards and software, beat all the best > attempts by many slick and well-financed companies to produce a more > attractive closed experience. > > And so it is with e-Books. Amazon’s Mobi format is not nearly as good as > ePub, but it is a closed format that Amazon owns and locks users to Amazon > for their books forever. ePub is an open standard, but the makers of reading > devices that use it (Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony) make it egregiously, > unnecessarily difficult to transfer books, read purchased books on other > devices, or buy books from a competing bookstore. Books should be simple and > accessible, a safe place to store good ideas for the future and a durable way > to have a personal library. eBooks right now are the opposite of that. There > is simply no good reason for this, and it’s terrible for the future of the > book. > > That is why, with some sadness, it’s our opinion that specialized ebook > formats should be dumped (yes, even ePub). It’s fine to use them during this, > the dark ages of e-Books, but if you want to preserve your ideas for the > future, none of these formats have the prospect of being around to be read on > future readers. What is a good bet, however, is HTML5. We believe it is a > completely safe bet to make books with HTML (after all, humble HTML is at the > heart of Mobi and ePub anyway). HTML5 plays video, can store itself for > offline reading, has all the abilities to be packaged up, sold, loaned, > excerpted, gifted, saved, and can be read by billions of devices now. Doesn’t > that sound more like a book? In fact, all that’s missing to allow authors and > creators the freedom to make and offer books on their own terms is a few > tools (already on the way). > > The Web became a vast, freely available tide that lifted all boats, free from > the clutches of any one company and a marketplace of ideas open to all. It > can do the same for e-Books. > > Regards, > > Ray Forma > Tel +61 (0)8 9335 6568 > Mob +61 (0) 428 596938 > > > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:[email protected]> > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[email protected]>
