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Originally Posted by Ankh
I wouldn't dream of undermining iPhone/iTouch as a reading platform, that is a huge segment. Yet, I somehow think that it will take more than this acquisition to stifle one Project Gutenberg, or any other name from your list. Community efforts/non-profit organizations are notoriously difficult to kill.
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I agree - I didn't say removing them from Stanza will kill them - I am just saying Amazon would love to see them go away, along with the rest of the retailers linked in Stanza, and this acquisition is an effective step in that direction. But all said and done, if that's what Amazon really wants, they won't succeed. Open projects like Gutenberg and even for-profit community-based startups like FeedBooks are strong enough to resist the effects of such moves.
However, if Amazon decides to pull the plug on them in Stanza, it will make things just a little bit harder for everyone else, because I believe a lot of iPhone/Stanza users first find out about BooksOnBoard, Gutenberg, FeedBooks etc. through Stanza (I could be wrong about Gutenberg). Unless of course a competing reader/access mechanism makes it equally simple for users to find and access content. I believe the development of such a system is inevitable, regardless of Amazon's wishes. It just needs to come out soon enough.