Is it just me, or do all discussions about anything substantial - always get highjacked by the lunchbreak crowd - that tries to judge efforts and insights by the -
"Have you heard what Heather did, that b***h"
metric of proper debating - internet style
(Cambridge Analytica says - don't waste your time, convincing people on political positions - just print out that cheat sheet we give you, and tell them, that your political candidate likes dogs. Very much. Also refer to their dog by name. Its on the cheat sheet.)
Its the facebook equivalent of "posting is easier than reading" - where the tldr: gets fired long before you are through with the headline - and every attempted discussion about a topic becomes this long meandering process - where the side wins in the end that came up with the easiest hook, that gets everyone going on an emotional level, then everyone calls each other names - and everyone is so pleased, that they found something to talk about, on their way back after the lunch break. (#gossip (share, like and subscribe, ...))
Thats the entire output of most internet platforms these days. The "what brand of coffee do you drink, and what product are you a fan of" threads are the only topics of interest that can still exist. Your opinion counts.
And they will be the hot topic tomorrow, and the day after, and the day...
On Facebook, you never stop scrolling -
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Yes, a part of the initial posting was there to confront people that the reality still hasnt changed. Yes I did it with the usual glee of someone that holds a viewpoint that can be defeated, but in the end still turns out to be the relevant one.
But it wasn't my main drive. I really thought about the issue - how it was filleted by people up to the point where everyone had an opinion, why this wasn't his or her problem, and why it would be good to - ignore the structural change that happened. While no blogger cared to even write about it. (But that other time, when Jeff Bezos tweeted, that they would be soon ready to announce a new product - boy - 200 google news entries within the first few minutes.)
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So here is a suggestion - the next time you see a long text, and feel the need to comment - dont. Take your time. Drink some coffee. Why not talk to a friend instead?
I'm sure there are some great remarks you could make about not having read the whole thing. Or how you remember what Heather did, about six months ago, and how you can still remember. Or how you felt you had won an argument that day you called her by a derogatory name, and someone else liked it on Facebook...
How about not flaming a thread to death, or sidetracking it to the point where it is unable to continue an actual discussion.
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On topic- I'm sure someone will get really angry - if I start repeating the core of the argument here again.
"Just because one is a format, and the other one is a format, and stuff with ink on it is a format - makes them all the same - where am I wrong?"
Is not a question I'm willing to answer at this point in the debate - the differences are already outlined - look them up if you like -
kfx is
- Scrambled by design, which makes it "unfit for archival purposes" not my words, the words of the guy that tried to to reverse engineer the container, for several months. edit: The moderation team here insists on me adding a notification in here that the mentioned "guy that tried to fully reverse engineer the format" only wrote, that .kfx is worse than .kf8 (.azw3), when it comes to its archiveability. He never mentioned the word "unfit".
- Can not be created or distributed, without engaging in a contractual relationship with the company - because, thats what books always have been. Right? Wrong.
- The public isn't allowed to understand any part of the container - and we still don't, to this day - we can look at how the "lttle black box works", but thats really it. Suggesting, that .kfx files would be .html, is some real twisted "Schroedingers cat" logic at play - so if something might be there, but we arent allowed to see, read or touch it - if Amazon can patent it, and with it change the entire nature of what a "book" is supposed to be - is it still html?
- Currently the format that gets autodeivivered to customers that are presumably buying books - hint, they arent. (They are buying licenses at the most, and .kfx is the license fulfillment "agent", - nothing more. I it has none of the properties of a book.)
- The only way out for customers is to sign into an Amazon web portal and request a defunct legacy version of a "Book", that the public is still allowed to unterstand. For the time being, because all of this runs on a "neat to have basis" - or as some of the old guards would qualify it - thats ground you can build foundations on. Oh, wait - not, thats only the last makeshift - roundabout loophole, the company has designated for "people with cultural needs" (you know like lending a book to a friend, giving it to your son, .. stuff that no one needs in a closed ecosystem...).
- The only way for authors to get books to their readers in a way that makes it "super easy" for them to benefit from stuff like built in hyphenation or ligatures - now is to suggest to them that they buy the "non book"; because only the non book comes with "features" (TM) - queue another forum voice raising their hand and asking - "But features, are good, right - and why shouldnt Amazon be allowed to develop "something" that sells better?" (If it has USPs and features, and has been patented, It might be a great product - it just might not be a book...)
So after all of this - we are at a point, where we don't ask ourselves - "what the frack has happened here" - we still ask ourselves the question - "But Bob, why should I change my buying habits, look - its still so easy!".
And the answer to that question is, that consumer behavior patterns in ecosystems are usually designed - and you loosing file format properties, before theres even talk about a DRM layer (dont worry - .kfx supports additional DRM. if you'd like that - which means, that there will be further account restrictions - so glad you asked..) is not something that just happens by chance.
I came across a newly formed website by some product design people, that also saw this as one of the current issues of our time. And there are some inspiring storys behind their motivation to make the issue more visible as well.
So leave yourself a few minutes in your watercooler conversation tomorrow, to make a few hilarious remarks about them as well - just so you can feel better for a few hours afterwards.
If it is not abundantly clear by now - this is not the thread for you to get your daily emotional gratification from. Honestly, not even for me. This is where we talk about an issue, because that issue exists, and it isn't going away.
Do I think a few casual opinions ("I bought a book today, and it was totally fine! - I even bought, a 80 USD Kindle - because it was best value!) have been what this this thread needed? A nice little shit storm to "get Amazon to notice"?
No. Sadly not. Making developers and technophiles think about behavioral design patterns, and that you can set up a web services just so no one uses it, or who controls it and why, matters - thats at least trying to make some steps forward to tackle the issue.
Also - I hope that there was some entertainment in this for you as well.