Re: discontinuation of the Microsoft Reader

On Sun, 21 Aug 2011, Beth Young wrote:

> At the very least, these providers ought to offer a one-time transfer to a
> live format when they decide to kill their old format. (I know this has all
> been said before, but I can't resist saying it again . . . .)

Perhaps I am not understanding but doesn't this just put off the day of 
reckoning? The issue (as has been discussed on TeBC at least twice in too much 
detail) appears to be the dependence on the seller for support after you have 
given them money.

PDF and EPUB are proving long-lived precisely because once I have a work in one 
of those formats, I don't need support from the seller -- the same way nobody 
goes back to Barnes and Noble with a paper book and says "I'm having problems 
reading this - can you show me how to open it?" (queue up that "book video")

History appears to be increasingly telling us that you need to be able to 
convert between formats for yourself. Not with permissions, not because of an 
upgrade, but it should be *expected* any time you buy a work that claims to be 
intended as a professional product.

An ebook you cannot convert to your format of choice is broken by design.

(Tangentially - I'm reminded of this because I am writing this email nearly two 
hours after the power has failed. But the openness of networks, telecom, and 
power systems means that I can build a failover system that keeps things 
working for me. I don't have to depend on one outside source to get everything 
right.)

: chris smith ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
: nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit - cicero :


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