Quote:
Originally Posted by sic
without Amazon (MobiPocket) and Microsoft can we really talk about a "standard"?
Even Adobe in their implementation "extended" the IDPF specification, adding on stuff that's needed but not "standardized".
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I think it is important to remember that the .epub standards, OCF 1.0 (the container spec) and OPS 2.0 (the markup spec) are both quite new. In fact, OPS 2.0, as the topic of this thread states, was approved Monday. That said, Adobe, SONY, OSoft, VitalSource Technolgies, eBook Technologies, LibreDigital and others have all either implemented .epub or plan to in the near future. I hope that, in future products, Microsoft and any other company releasing products in this industry will consider and implement the specs. They are patent unencumbered and completely free to use.
There is also widespread support for .epub from publishers, large and small, trade, education and scientific, who all participated in the creation of the specs. Already, many have contracted conversion houses to produce .epub files and/or created internal systems to author .epub (Adobe inDesign CS3, by the way, produces .epub as an export feature).
Industry-wide use of these specs will significantly lower production costs for eBooks leading to increased selection for customers and allow interoperability for unencrypted digital books between software that implements .epub.
As for Amazon/Mobi implementation, I have addressed this in a previous post (dated 9/7) and have pasted url and the post below for reference. I hope it helps.
Thanks,
Nick
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Nick Bogaty
Executive Director
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...3&postcount=28
Hello all,
I received a number of calls and emails yesterday in regard to the New York Times article on eBooks specific to Amazon's plans to implement open standards in the Kindle. People seemed to be alarmed by the below paragraph in the piece which reads:
"Some also complain about the fact that Amazon is using a proprietary e-book format from Mobipocket, a French company that Amazon bought in 2005, instead of supporting the open e-book standard backed by most major publishers and high-tech companies like Adobe. That means owners of other digital book devices, like the Sony Reader, will not be able to use books purchased on Amazon.com."
Amazon has been very (and maybe smartly) tight-lipped on their release plans for the Kindle and I don't have any special knowledge about development and version plans. However, in the development of OCF and OPS, the two specifications that make up the .epub standard, both Mobipocket and Amazon have expressed to me, the IDPF working groups responsible for the specs and other IDPF members as to their intention to implement .epub. I have every indication that they're going to do this. A clear sign of this is found in Mobipocket Reader 6.0 where there is an option to import OCF files which is the container part of .epub. This takes the OCF file, unzips it, and then converts to .mobi; completely automated. Reader 6.0 was released before OPS 2.0 (the markup part of .epub whose final member vote ends Monday), so I can only assume that their OPS implementation will come in the next version of their Reader software.
Again, I have no inside knowledge of Amazon's development plans, but it seems to me that Times quote might have been based on incorrect information.
Hope this helps,
Nick
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Nick Bogaty
Executive Director
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)