Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
To make a pbook, all you need is a printing press, a road, and some way to transport your books around while you're trying to sell them. That isn't much in the way of infrastructure.
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Roads are a bit of a challenge in some parts of the world.
But, again, you need that for
every book. You only need it
once for the reader with ebooks, which makes it practical to overcome bigger obstacles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
Ebooks need servers, reliable access to electricity and either wifi hotspots or cell phone towers, and whatever technology is needed to make the reader and compile the ebook. Huge difference in infrastructure.
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With paper books,
you need roads, at the least, and a store front of some kind, local to the customer. With ebooks,
somebody needs all that,
somewhere. All that you need locally is the delivery pipe, and more of the world has cell phone service these days than has roads and clean water.
Quote:
Originally Posted by teh603
Its also not like there's much profit to be made in setting up solar panel farms outside poor African villages, regardless of how much better their standard of living might be. The Almighty Dollar has replaced the god that once drove the concept of White Man's Burden, and I'm not always sure it was for the better.
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Completely different subject.