Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate the great
There wasn't any better option at the time. Remember, Epub didn't exist in 2005, while Mobipocket had a well established code base and several really nice tools.
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Kindle launch was 2007.
Having only Latin-Roman was so lazy. No Arabic, Asian, Greek, Hebrew, Cyrillic or Right to Left support. Very limited fonts. Yet the underlying Linux had had all that over 10 years earlier.
The version of Open Book before 2007 release of Epub2 was mature in 2002 and started in 1999.
Sony in 2004-2004 was the first eink based ereader, with LRF, but LCD based ereaders, including ones using OpenBook format existed earlier. The Mobi format in contrast was very primitive and while it made sense to include it on the Kindle at 2007 launch, it was a disgrace it took so long for Amazon to do azw3/KF8 (basically epub 2.0). The original azw was mobi with different DRM.
The azw3/KF8 based on epub and thus first "international" support wasn't till 2011! Sony released eInk with epub2.0 a year earlier replacing their own proprietary LRF and they could have launched with OEBPS 1.2 in 2004 and added epub2 in 2007, but they are fond of proprietary and DRM too (remember artificial limitations of mini-disc and sony custom memory sticks with maagic Gate DRM?).
The epub format wasn't called epub till version 2.0.
Specs are available long before public release to developers or else they couldn't be evaluated. It was a political decision to minimise software developement and ditch Adobe DRM (which Amazon had used previously for ebooks) to go with primitive & crippled mobi with new Amazon drm as azw (no connection to azw3).