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By Paul Biba

images.jpegGood news. At least some Microsoft Press e-books will appear without DRM. And in ePub, too, maybe? Just speculation.

Microsoft and O’Reilly Media have entered into a joint arrangement to distribute, co-publish, develop content and manage the expansion of Microsoft Press. This is for the Northern American market and will involve paper as well as electronic books.

From our point of view, however, the big news and possible news would be on the digital end. O’Reilly is solidly committed to the ePub format standard. Will Microsoft Press use ePub on some titles, at least? And could a future version of Microsoft Reader boast ePub capabilities? ePub is a kissin’ cousin of Microsoft’s LIT format.

Here are a few quotes from the press release:


… By bringing that content to digital and mobile devices and platforms worldwide, millions more will have access to that same great content. …

"There are more than 40 million people walking around the world with a mobile phone or digital device which essentially gives them a bookstore in their pocket. That’s an enormous opportunity for publishers today," said Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly and an influential leader in the Open Source and Web 2.0 communities who has over one million Twitter followers. "We are no longer a print publisher that happens to sell digital books too. We’re a digital publisher that also sells print books. All publishing is now digital publishing, and all writing is writing for the web. Books must behave like the web they’re now a part of."

"We will apply the lessons we’ve learned and the knowledge we’ve gained about digital publishing," added O’Reilly. "And we will remain true to our own values. All the derivative content from each Microsoft Press title–whether it’s an ebook, app, webcast or an interactive video–will be issued DRM-free, because that’s what we believe in doing." …

 
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