Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
I doubt this one is going to be a success, even with Windows 10's substantial user base. I for one will be avoiding this particular ebook store like the plague. Whilst the books are apparently at least in ebook format, I wouldn't be buying them in the expectation of later being able to remove the DRM. Whilst there is always the chance that some hackers will take a look and find the problem easy, or regard it as a challenge, I doubt this platform will attract enough readers to make this likely.
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I myself have no interest in the bookstore itself.
Unlike MSREADER in the PDA era, it doesn't offer any added value to me *at the present*. That might change. Or not.
Just don't be too quick to bury them.
Remember that iBooks shares pretty much all the abovementioned downsides and it still has captured a 10% share of the ebook market. That's without running on PCs, Android, dedicated readers, and even coming late to the very Mac.
Note that Edge is independent of Windows.
It already runs on iOS and Android and, while the ebook feature isn't yet active, on Android it has a placeholder stating it is coming. Not sure about iOS, since Apple is touchy about features that compete with their revenue streams but they might work out something. (Or not.)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybra.../#3dc24a7e7129
Given that Edge runs on Android, it is also an option for the Android-based eink readers. That's not something doable with iBooks.
Now, us folk around here care about DRM and backing up and archiving content but we also know, we are in the minority. Out in the mainstream the masses don't care. Casual readers, in particular, don't care at all.
So yes, they're way late to the party and don't (yet) offer us any compelling reason to deal with them. But they aren't necessarily D.O.A. If nothing else, they support ePub and aren't Amazon. In some circles that is enough.
It might be enough to get them 5% of the market in a year or two. Which ain't peanuts. And it would make them a clear number three.
People keep hoping for an alternative to Amazon; well, here's one.
Edit:
By the way, people like to wave off MS as some tech has-been and are missing how they are quietly growing into new and very profitable areas with top of the line tech. If anything, their core competencies in tools and services have them extremely well positioned for the next wave of change in the ever changing computer world. They are already coleaders, with AWS, in Cloud services. And they keep adding to their services toolkit. Edge is one of the keys.
And there are forces at work that play right to their strengths and positioning.
Consider these two recent pieces:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/android...oned-platform/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/siri-yo...nal-assistant/
The second one might seem like a seasonal joke but if you stop to consider Apple's backburner-ing of the Mac in favor of the iThings, to the point some are calling for them to spinoff the Mac to let it compete properly as a standalone business, there is merit in the idea. Apple has allowed its computing side to fall too far behind the leading edge to catch up any time soon. And if they don't team up with Microsoft, Amazon will. And are...
Bottom line, those dirt cheap WinTabs might come in very handy for Edge ebooks if the Oracle ruling sticks.