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Honda CivicThe eBook Community list has been buzzing with talk about the hassles of converting PDF files to run on machines such as the much-welcomed eBookwise-1150.

I’ve joined the chorus, pointing this out as an example of the damage from the format wars–which actually may be winding down in time, given the brand names coming out quietly for OpenReader. An end of hostilities would be logical enough. After all, the OpenReader consumer standard will simply be built around an existing production one from the Open eBook Forum. The OpenReader Consortium is keen on realizing the excellent vision forsaken by the Forum itself because of the short-term interests of Adobe and other powerful software companies.

The sniper in the format jungle

Enter Lee Fyock, once a PalmReader guy and still a defender of costly proprietary formats. I’ve got to admire this guy’s tenacity. He’s a little like those Japanese soldiers from World War II, ready to hang out in the jungles for a few decades. Like most things on the Net, e-book formats will become standardized if past patterns apply. Peace will prevail in time. Today I drive a 1988 Honda.

Even after the format war dies, however, old Lee may well be busy sniping away. Yesterday, in his super-literal mode, Lee wrote: “The hassle of converting PDF to other formats is the hassle of converting any end-format into something it wasn’t designed for.” Um, Lee, is that really the true issue here? Isn’t “designed for” a rather irrelevant phrase when we’re looking at this from the perspective of the typical reader of e-books? People don’t give a squat about the intent of Adobe and other proprietary format zealots; they just want to be able to read their books conveniently on different devices, especially just-purchased machines or future ones. When it comes to buying the same book, “Once is enough.”

Grasping for a comparison

Poor Lee, however, won’t stop defending the indefensible. He says: “David’s statement is something like saying that trying to convert a jet engine for use in a Honda Civic is the fault of the transportation industry not standardizing on engine types. Or something like that–someone lend me a good simile.”

As a Honda owner, I’m delighted to oblige. To use a more helpful comparison–a metaphor far more meaningful to e-book readers than “What’s it designed for?”–I don’t have to buy Honda-compatible gasoline or drive on Honda-blessed roads. A 1988 Civic DX can still run well on freshly paved superhighways and on many brands of gasoline refined in 2004. Why should e-books be any different?

My hardware-software combo should be the car, and the e-books should be the gasoline or, if you prefer, the highway. Thank goodness that Adobe, Microsoft and eReader don’t control Detroit, Tokyo or the U.S. highway system. Otherwise Route 95 might be usable only for recent-model Chevrolets gulping up Exxon gasoline, and as a 1988 Honda owner favoring no-name brands of gas, I’d be SOL. Just where would be automobile industry be with this arrangement?

Publishers paying the price

No wonder the e-book industry is so pathetic with annual global revenues of less than $40 million a year–a smidgen of the billions once predicted. While hardly a panacea, OpenReader will help reduce the pain of format-dazed consumers and lower the costs of publishers.

In our efforts to wind down format wars, we’re far past “30 seconds over Tokyo,” but we’ll welcome still more names to join the familiar logos already on our side–a list that we’ll be releasing in the near future. It’s easy to help out the OpenReader Consortium, whether you’re a small guy or an industry giant. Just e-mail Jon Noring with a cc to me. No financial commitment. You’re just saying you’re sick and tired of so much money being unduly siphoned from the publishing world to Microsoft, Adobe and the rest. Oh, and if you’re a shareholder in any of those companies, don’t shed a tear. They’ll do fine. Remember, there’s no law saying that Microsoft or Adobe can’t push their pet e-book readers using the OpenReader format. Only, now they’ll have to compete over such trifles as usability, rather than locking us into their formats.

Detail: My white Civic is a 1988 model rather than a ’91. Otherwise it’s more or less like the one pictured above.

 
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