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Originally Posted by bookish
I would hazard a guess and say they are underestimating their user base. And that they are dumbing down their devices to the point where they are less usable than they could or should be. I'm very glad that I started this topic because it is now clear to me that in addition to Sony's failure to support html, their use of a non-hierarchical filesystem will prevent me from buying one of their current readers.
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To clarify: The Reader
supports a hierarchical file system - it uses a standard FAT file system. What it does - exactly like Windows Mobile devices - is to provide you with a "flat" view of the
contents of the "folder tree" when you come to open a file. You can put files on the machine - at least using a memory card - using whatever folder structure you wish.
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Perhaps Sony and MS are mistaking the man in the street with a 4th grade student. I think that when the majority of kids get beyond this early age they do understand the concept of files and folders (if not the term hierachical), and the value of using the latter to conveniently and efficiently store and access the former.
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I must respectfully disagree. Some years ago I gave my parents (now both in their mid 70s) an old PC for things like Word Processing. Despite my explaining the use of folders, they store
everything in "My Documents". Many people do this - non-computer people find folders "scary" and lose stuff.
It would probably harm Sony's reputation greatly if people kept phoning support and saying "I can't find the book I've downloaded" because they'd put it in a folder and lost it, and that is what people do with folders - I speak from experience!
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Does anyone know if the existing Cybook also fails to provide the ability store and access documents in a hierchical manner? Or the upcoming model for that matter?
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The existing CyBook, as a Windows CE machine, behaves like all Windows CE machines and shows you a flat file list. Don't know what the new one will do, but it wouldn't amaze me if it did the same.
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Thank you Harry for pointing out this very important aspect of the Sony to me!
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You're very welcome!