[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by notimp

Thank you for the split - sadly I wasnt fast to respond, but that comes with me having the opportunity to see where the discussion went so far.

I want to extrapolate three points - where I think this community still "doesnt get it".


We are talking about structural issues in here - and still, most people in here are fixed on inventing methods that allow "the correct jumping through hoops".

1. The power of the default

When most people are getting their eBooks in .kfx format - increasingly it doesnt matter that you may, or may not still be able to download older formats via a web interface no one - and let me repeat that - no one, is using. Peoples notions of what an eBook is, or aught to be will change.

No one's using the web interface?
No one's using Kindle for PC?

Both of those have been the standard way for people who don't own a Kindle or only "own" (on paper) a Kindle, to purchase Amazon books and format-shift into EPUB.
Because price comparison.

And peoples' notion of what an ebook is or should be, was always on shaky ground.
Most people have difficulty comprehending what a "file" is. They open files through applications, and if the application doesn't already know where the file is they get lost.
Welcome to the world of "people are stupid".

2. The issue of the ownership of tools

If the tools to create an eBook (in the .kfx format and every format from now on) arent widely distributed - it doesnt matter if .kfx can be "opened" or understood - because as soon as it is - Amazon can roll out its successor in a matter of days.

I hate to say it, but KFX isn't really a focus of most people here, not as long as Amazon still offers the old format alongside the new.

When you dont have to reeducate a broader section of your production chain on "how to make an eBook", because you only have to have five guys in house that know it, and are responsible for the heavy automation that does this for hundreds of thousands of your clients, you just invent a new file format whenever you feel like it.

Consumers are educated now, that they will accept new fileformats in exchange for one or two new features ("Thanks product bloggers!") - that could as well have been implemented with azw3 - it wasnt a technical limitation, it was a marketing play - to increase lock in, to guide the conversation away from the broader changes this file format initiates. And furthermore, the consumer doesnt know or see about the fileformat at all.

Consumers are absolutely not educated about any such thing.
Most have never heard of AZW3. They haven't heard of EPUB either -- even if they own a Nook or a Kobo.
Again, people who give a hoot about formats are very much the minority -- and of those who do give a hoot, an even representation can usually be found here on MobileRead, complaining about how AZW3 is "a marketing play to increase lock in".

Joy of joys... now they consider AZW3 perfectly normal and acceptable -- because they have moved on to complaining about KFX.

If something as mundane as a signature key needs to be updated - auto delivery, pop him a "needs to be redownloaded" message ("better with no prompts") and thats it.

3. Structural implications

If the "workarounds" arent broadly used, because not only is Amazons concept of "delivery and usability" much more straight forward and easy, but also it offers better quality (serifs, better spacing, hyphenation). And not only does it offer better quality - people effectively dont come in contact anymore with anything we propose as a solution --

("Well see, then you have to go to amazon.com and into the web interface there (for the first time) and download a file format, which you have never seen before (on your eReader you only got those kfx files we dont like), and then you download this program, and then this plugin (which we dont want to give you a link for, just look for it), then convert into an OLDER fileformat - then do the hyphena- ...")

-- you guys will eventually fade into obscurity, because - people just dont care as much.

I have no fear whatsoever that we will fade into obscurity because of KFX.

Heck, this forum is not really about Amazon's file formats anyway. It's about the hardware platform.

The primary point of contact for KFX is the people in the calibre forums. And the people in the Kindle Formats forum.

Now from then on you can focus all the available time on your hands to deliver the best individual product support to Amazon customers (which wont ask the questions we'd like them to ask, because - see above), but you will do so mostly because of hedonistic reasons ("I like to be useful, to help others, ..") - but not because it is really in your self interest as a society to do so.

I proclaim that there is a switch, where this community will work mostly for and in the interest of Amazon, while maybe still having the loophole that two or three dozen of us will hold dear (also entirely controlled by Amazon - if it is too popular, throw a few more hoops at it), but in the end - we will have lost the ability to

- produce books

- to independently distribute them

- to understand current formats

and to reach a broader audience.

I don't know about any hedonistic reasons. And I am pretty sure no one here will work for Amazon.
As for the interests of Amazon, we have always worked in the best interest of Amazon.
Jailbroken devices are value-added, more attractive devices, which is in Amazon's best interest. Many of the hacks here enhance the reading experience.

Better collections management, integrated with calibre.
Font control.
custom screensavers <-- can be cover of last book.

A wealth of debricking information and resources.

The only shame is that Amazon doesn't get this, and tries stopping us. But then again, we aren't much different in that way from the iThing and Android communities, except less popular.

I know social effects are not what most techies (I confess) usually think about (hack it, then look for a Steve Jobs to do the rest // hack it, then make a fun little app out of it, then put it on an Appstore, because the eyeballs are there) - but the shift is already under way.

I'm still not sure what social effects you are worrying about... sorry.

You know you are not at a high point, when you are mounting the argument - yes, but with wireshark i can still...

Huh??? That was simply a curiosity. Discovered whist about other things, I believe...

You may have lost eBooks already, and there is a discussion remaining about, when do you stop supporting Amazon (for free, no less), when do you say something against it -

When does the iOS jailbreaking community stop supporting Apple -- for free, no less? We're a third-party group of unofficial hackers here. By definition everything we do enhances someone else's product.
And you are always allowed to say something against it. That is no guarantee that people will agree with you of course.

It sure doesnt feel like bashing, you decide.

Also - there is the scientific angle on this (Industrialisation of the distribution format ("its not a book, its a container")) that has identified this as a problem as well. But its media science, so who cares...

Another structural question that has to be asked is - why did publishers so easily agree to "never be able to produce an eBook again" in exchange for a mere percentage from Amazon (the monopoly distributer).

Oh, that's easy.
Publishers were afraid of piracy, so they insisted on DRM.
DRM is the great lock-in, strongly "encouraging" the market leader(s) -- without it, Amazon would have considerably less power.

No one ever said publishers are smart...

This question has in fact been asked -- multiple times.
In the News and General Discussions forums.

Not so often in the Kindle Developer's Forum, since it doesn't strictly have anything to do with the practical aspects of hacking and software development on the Kindle E-Ink hardware.