Comments on: So will anyone run Microsoft Reader on a Mac–now that Boot Camp exists?

By: Branko Collin

Branko Collin — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 19:49:51 +0000

You seem to be suggesting that “borrowing” would be my idea of the word we should use for “copyright infringement”. It is not, and I don’t know where you get that idea.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 16:56:21 +0000

Hey, Branko, I can appreciate that, er, borrowing a song online is different from boosting the CD at the store. No loss of anyone's physical property and maybe even some promo. Still, I think the p-word is a good, vivid one. For a viewpoint of piracy that you'd enjoy, see this item from Andy Oram at O'Reilly. Thanks. David

By: Branko Collin

Branko Collin — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 16:43:27 +0000

“Please note that he does not condone piracy, nor do I.”

Shall I be the one that condones piracy then? Nah. But then I do not condone calling copyright infringement “piracy” either. Shame on you David!

I never know what’s worse, the pirates or the parrots.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:48:49 +0000

An aside: We have a VIP in our midst. Dan is the guy who helped distribute the convert lit utility to crack Reader so people could make back-up copies or engage in other fair use. For legal reasons, he had to give it up. Please note that he does not condone piracy, nor do I. But there is another ethical issue–consumers paying for e-books but not enjoying full access to them. Meanwhile I’ll await with interest Richard’s experience with Reader.

By: Dan Jackson

Dan Jackson — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:29:57 +0000

It’s also worth noting that eventually there’ll be hypervisor utilities available which will allow you to switch operating systems just like alt-tabbing between two applications (or so the theory goes). Most of the Intel Macs already have dual core processors that could support this sort of activity, so I don’t think it’s entirely beyond the pale that Mac users could use MS Reader under Windows.

Of course, for my own part, I agree with Richard’s suggestion of converting LIT files to more open formats but regrettably there are still the legal issues with that.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 21:19:24 +0000

Bear in mind that Microsoft LIT format has an easily available utility that will explore LIT files into their component XHTML source files. So yea, you will see some tech oriented Mac users doing this.

I did my WinXP install last night, but I’m too busy testing Visual Studio to worry about e-books

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 14:27:07 +0000

Amen. Here’s to the glory of a cross-platform approach! The existence of Boot Camp does not in the least diminish the need for a CPA for e-book readers. – David

By: McQ

McQ — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 10:37:12 +0000

You realize you are talking about _re-booting_ into Windows, in order to read a book, right? I don’t know about you, but I won’t be doing that. I have perfectly good eReader software running on every platform I own (including Macs, PCs, Palms, Pocket PCs, and my Symbian phone). [Sadly, yes I do own all of those.]