Quote:
Originally Posted by mlewis78
As long as Barnes & Noble sells their epub books with DRM, epub is not an open format. It's no better than mobi.
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I think you're misunderstanding the meaning of "open format".
An open format is one whose specifications are published and which is usable by anyone. HTML is a perfect example. If you in some way limit access to a specific instance of an HTML file (encrypt it, zip it with a password, store it on a floppy and lock it in a safe) that doesn't change the standard, or the openness of the standard. Open is the opposite of proprietary.
Likewise, B&N's (and Sony's) locking of epub books with DRM doesn't change the fact that epub itself is a published, freely usable format. If you want to build an epub file from scratch, you can read the specification and go to it, and nobody can stop you. A hundred years from now, someone can look up what the epub standard was and write something to read that book. The same would not be true if it was in some Microsoft proprietary format; only Microsoft knows what's really going on inside of those files.
DRM is another issue all together. All else aside, DRM is the biggest obstacle to future-proofing any ebook, even if that future is next week.