From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Wed Dec 18 2002 - 17:57:11 MST
> (Damien Broderick <thespike@earthlink.net>):
> Lee Daniel Crocker opined:
>
> > > It should be noted that Fictionwise titles are available only
> > > in bizarre proprietary formats, and some of them only in
> > > encrypted formats. Another pay service, Webscriptions, makes
> > > its titles available in standard formats just like Baen, and
> > > has current releases (indeed many even before publication in
> > > paper form), and makes multiple works available for a single
> > > price, so you're not forced to buy a title blind. In general
> > > I think that's a much more sensible model with more respect for
> > > the consumer.
>
> I passed along this criticism to Steve Pendergrast at F/wise, who
> comments by way of rebuttal:
>
> > We support more
> > formats than any other major ebook distributor by far. People come to
> > us to buy ebooks that are also in the Baen Free library because we
> > have formats Baen doesn't even support.
Saying "We support AppleMicroPalmReader 17.5 and 28 other formats you
never heard of unless you shop at WalMart like your grandmother" is just
a way to avoid the real issue. How about plain fucking text that ANY
user can read on any hardware, and format and adapt to his own needs?
Nothing else matters. If you ALSO support some special fancy formats
that's cool too, but unless you supply even one STANDARD format the
complaint is valid and his answer is evasive and dishonest.
He says that the formats he offers are standrd for his industry, and
he may be right, but they're still not PUBLIC STANDARDS. Public
standards outlive particular industries and markets and products.
Just because Microsoft or Palm calls something "standard" doesn't
make it one, even of all the vendors in a market agree. The only
format he lists that might have a claim to the name is what he calls
"Adobe Acrobat", which might be PDF, but the site doesn't make that
clear. If it is PDF, which is a standard, then my objection is
withdrawn. But if it is, why don't they say so? I suspect because
it's really some secret format that Acrobat can read but that isn't
real PDF.
> > It's true that some ebooks we carry are encrypted, but only ones for
> > which the publishers absolutely will not allow unencrypted versions.
> > So, it was a choice to carry them encrypted or not at all. We would
> > prefer not to encrypt them but that's not a legal option.
That's a perfectly valid policy. A stupid decision on the publisher's
part, but one they certainly have a right to make.
> I have never bought one of their downloads myself (since I don't own
> a Palm or equivalent), but the e-books I've seen from them are
> perfectly readable on Adobe Acrobat freeware.
Adobe Acrobat is not available as "free software" in the FSF sense,
it's only without cost to those customers who use an operating
system that Adobe chooses to write for. True standard PDF files
can be read by true free software that any user can compile from
source on any operating system. If the files are really PDF, as I
said, the complaint is withdrawn. As someone who has been free from
the Microsoft gravy train since 1996, I don't give a damn what
features he's provided for obedient little Windows users.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jan 15 2003 - 17:58:47 MST