Re: DotReader.com adr. [Re: OpenReader vs. the troll in the basement [re: [gutvo
The show-stopper isn't the relative popularity (people have successfully argued lots of things in PG's history that didn't seem too popular at first blush). What we *need* is a conversion utility (the "open tool-chain" that Marcello refers to). I don't expect a conversion tool that can take our somewhat sloppy (at times) encoded plain text. While wonderful, that is asking too much. But I *do* want a conversion tool that can run from PGTEI to OpenReader format. If the tool chain is open source and runs on Linux, we can probably have a quick and dirty converter up relatively quickly. As always, I'd be happy to test the heck out of it. Josh
----- Original Message ----- From: "David H. Rothman" <davidrothman@yahoo.com> To: "Project Gutenberg Volunteer Discussion" <gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org> Subject: DotReader.com adr. [Re: OpenReader vs. the troll in the basement [re: [gutvol-d] Kevin Kelly in NYT on future of digital libraries]] Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 18:39:53 -0400
Actually that's http://www.dotreader.com , not .org --mea culpa--and if PG really cares about open source, then it should encourage strong open source efforts of the OSoft variety rather than just wait until they catch on.
Here's a little two-man software house in Tacoma, Washington, gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars on an open-source reader that can do far more than Plucker, allowing blogs and forums to be embedded inside books.
Plucker has many appreciative users, but dotReader/OpenReader will be of far greater importance to commercial publishers, who are already starting to show interest.
In turn, that'll be wonderful for PG works and other public domain books. dotReader reader can work with many kinds of books while improving the user experience.
dotReader uses a turbocharged version of existing e-book standards that techies and publishers have thrashed aroundfor years.
It's the best of all worlds: open source for programmers and a powerful free reader for users--and e-book standards similar to existing ones for publishers. Plus, dotReader can handle other XML/CSS-related formats as well.
We serverd 89504 plucker books in May 2006.
I think you'll do much better with OpenReader available as well. OSoft's e-reader for the format is a thing of beauty, and, as noted, it'll be free to download.
Plus, another awesome implementation is planned via the FBReader, which, according to the Wikipedia, is catching on among Nokia 770 users. See http://only.mawhrin.net/fbreader/plans.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plucker.
Thanks, David
David Rothman | davidrothman@openreader.org | 703-370-6540 TeleRead: http://www.teleread.org/blog
On 5/22/06, Marcello Perathoner <marcello@perathoner.de> wrote:
David H. Rothman wrote:
See the true details for yourself at http://www.dotreader.org.
It says:
www.dotreader.org
This page is parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com
Did the .reader bubble already burst?
I'd love for Gutenberg itself to offer OpenReader format
We already offer most books in plucker. That's because they are open format, widely deployed and offer an open toolchain.
We serverd 89504 plucker books in May 2006.
We'll see about OpenReader once you'll have widely deployed your .reader and made available an open toolchain.
-- Marcello Perathoner webmaster@gutenberg.org
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Thanks to both Juliet and Josh for their useful thoughts. Let me add that OpenReader files from an XML/CSS-related format or another would be highly desirable if one cares about format standards as well as reader standards. Format standards would be one way to help public domain books get closer to the mainstream of publishing. Many public librararies dispense e-books only in a few formats. I hate the idea of their paying for public domain books, and format standardization could help. I want libraries to be able to give away public domain books for keeps rather than just loan them. While I hope that dotReader will catch on, let's think format as well to be safe. Either way, though, with or without OpenReader, dotReader could be very good for PG and DP alike. Sooner or later OpenReader will catch on through other means, and the readers (both human and software) will be ready. David David Rothman davidrothman@openreader.org dr@teleread.org http://www.teleread.org/blog 703-370-6540 JulietS wrote: If dotReader can handle XML/CSS-related formats, then many of the more recent PG books are already available for it, since they have been produced in xhtml. Most of the output from DP these days comes with an xhtml version. JulietS
participants (2)
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David H. Rothman -
Joshua Hutchinson