Great News! Amazon scores more ebook exclusives

[ProfCrash]

ahhh I didn't realize Kindle 4 PC doesn't run on linux.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So really, there should be no real reason for exclusivity. All that does is piss people off and generate overall lower revenue for the publisher and/or author.

I don't understand why so many people don't seem to understand this. It's not about revenue. It's about profit.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The key word is choice. If you have a choice you are not excluded.

That's a very bold statement. "Get a Kindle" or at least "install an OS that Amazon deems worthy of support" is not what I'd call "choice". YMMV.

If you choose to not use the free, legal apps ...

Was I somehow unclear when I said they were not available for my devices?

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

They also apparently offer authors a 50% royalty rate, and are going up against big pubs for their author's ebook rights.

Big wow. 50% of your income forever in return for a few one-off jobs that you could easily hire people to do. It's like giving someone a share of your house in return for cleaning the windows.

[rogue_librarian]

Do you have any idea what rate old school publishers pay?

[CleverClothe]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The key word is choice. If you have a choice you are not excluded. If you choose to not use the free, legal apps then you have decided that you don't want to read the book. That is your choice. Which you have acknowledged but many others fail to acknowledge.

Your choice is to starve or steal bread from the baker. But that is ok, because you have a choice!

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Do you have any idea what rate old school publishers pay?

Isn't it normally in the neighborhood of 15-25%?

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Not on my choice of devices and Operating Systems, no.

Not for long. Amazon is already working on a web-based Kindle app. The beta is for samples, the full version will allow reading of full books.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000579091

Let's keep in mind, by the way, that Linux covers less than 2% of the desktop market -- and it's unclear how many of those people are interested in buying ebooks from Amazon and do not plan to buy an Android or iOS tablet. So, it's not like they are shafting half the planet.

This only leaves two viable objections: 1) other non-tablet ebook readers and 2) library access.

So, not great but definitely not the End of Western Civilization As We Know It.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

Isn't it normally in the neighborhood of 15-25%?

Exactly, if that. So 50% sounds like a good deal.

[DiapDealer]

Not for long. Amazon is already working on a web-based Kindle app. The beta is for samples, the full version will allow reading of full books.

I hope it works great for those who like it, but I consider any reading app that requires an internet connection just to function, a failure of epic proportions.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

ahhh I didn't realize Kindle 4 PC doesn't run on linux.

To support your argument is one reason I suspect Amazon, and a LOT of other apps, support Linux is there are one, a lot of different flavors of the same core OS each of which could require it's own tweaked version of the app.

And for my pals who love their Linux, I think it's a great OS but the reality of it is the power and control a user has is also where it falis for the mass market. This is where companies have to draw the line, just as with Apple OS's past and present, the market share does not represent enough to justify having 100 versions of the same app just to reach 20% of the Linux users who more likely than not are already stripping DRM and/or darnet'ing your content anyway.

An example of this is Zinio, representing a fairly large portion of the periodicals market. They simply do not have a native reader app for Linux. Their solution is a Flash browser based app rather than a stand alone solution as we would all prefer. Even they, who likely have a large Linux user base thanks to magazines alone, cannot justify more than a browser based solution which is likely feature compromised thanks to the limitations within the browser environment.

So it's just a fact of life not anything else. It's part of the trade off for using Linux. People who make that choice love to tout the idea is to get away from mainstream OS and software but when push comes to shove they also will use the lack of a commercial app for their platform of choice to hammer on the very commercial software they were claiming they want to get away depending on. They just can't have it both ways unfortunately.

And no Amazon, B&N or other readers likely can't release any source code as it's more than likely their reader apps use some licensed code which precludes the ability. And the Linux users are just used to someone picking up the ball to port a given app over to there particular Linux variation. It will not be possible with most commercial apps and the Linux users here know this.

Second, companies simply cannot afford or justify the resources to support the Linux in all it's variations. Very often what seems like innocuous changes can break compatibility in a fair number of apps. Or a case where there is a new branch of the that particular Linux variation which may or may not have all the modules needed to run the app in question. So where does a company draw the line? It's a constantly moving target to add support for an OS like Linux that while a really spiffy OS it's very power, the ability to be customized is also why major software providers don't provide Linux versions of their app(s). It's why there are so many indie developers who wrote stuff for Linux but even those may or may not run under a given branch of it's parent version of Linux without needing to at best recompile the app against the branch version or at worst need to do some recoding. From my experience it's frequently due to the UI supporting layer of libraries which can bring in a lot of compatibility issues.

Third, back to compatibility, if a company released a version of their app to run one, say they Pocketbook version of Linux, then users of Ubuntu would scream all heck and vise-a-versa.

Last, there are also licensing restrictions as to what platforms some tech can be ported to. This is especially true on mobile devices which have become so encumbered by carrier limitations it's not funny. So app developers would have to cater to those who are willing to jailbreak their devices. One example is running multiple DRM based apps on the same desktop/laptop is FINE license wise. But try and legally license the same libraries to enable running mobile devices and it can turn into a rat's nest fast.

Ultimately it's not all on Amazon or Sony or B&N or Kobo or whoever. It's just part of the trade off to using Linux as your core OS and it's just complicated. It's a shame but it is what it is. Too bad it's likely not legal to reverse engineer something to read DRM'd AZW/Mobi even, YIKES, TPZ files. But it likely is not allowed legally. Basically the same holds for the DRM's EPUB's as well.

[Hellmark]

It really wouldn't take much for them to make a version of Kindle 4 PC for Linux. Heck, Wine allows for compiling windows apps with linux support, so it would appear to be a linux native app.

As far as requiring different versions for different distros, not necessarily true. It is very possible to make apps for linux that will work the same across multiple distros. The biggest thing to allow for that is to statically link the libraries. Usually where issues come in, is where the app is dynamically linked, and is expecting a certain version of a library at a specific location, and it isnt there or is a different version. If you statically link, the libraries needed are compiled into the same file, with the end result is an app that will run the same on different machines, but be a bit bigger.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Not for long. Amazon is already working on a web-based Kindle app. The beta is for samples, the full version will allow reading of full books.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000579091

Let's keep in mind, by the way, that Linux covers less than 2% of the desktop market -- and it's unclear how many of those people are interested in buying ebooks from Amazon and do not plan to buy an Android or iOS tablet. So, it's not like they are shafting half the planet.

This only leaves two viable objections: 1) other non-tablet ebook readers and 2) library access.

So, not great but definitely not the End of Western Civilization As We Know It.

or what Kali wrote.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

It really wouldn't take much for them to make a version of Kindle 4 PC for Linux. Heck, Wine allows for compiling windows apps with linux support, so it would appear to be a linux native app.

As far as requiring different versions for different distros, not necessarily true. It is very possible to make apps for linux that will work the same across multiple distros. The biggest thing to allow for that is to statically link the libraries. Usually where issues come in, is where the app is dynamically linked, and is expecting a certain version of a library at a specific location, and it isnt there or is a different version. If you statically link, the libraries needed are compiled into the same file, with the end result is an app that will run the same on different machines, but be a bit bigger.

reasonable for use but I would say it's not as trivial as implied. If it was it would be done. Also what happens when a statically linked library that included in the compiled/tokenized app no longer function due to some change in the original branch/distro of that version of Linux?

And I think that is one of the primary points I was trying to make. It's a moving target. Add to that if some of the code used in the main app can even be ported to Linux or a given mobile device all due to those copyrights (aka license agreements) which dictate when and where the licensed code can be run.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

So it's just a fact of life not anything else. It's part of the trade off for using Linux. People who make that choice love to tout the idea is to get away from mainstream OS and software but when push comes to shove they also will use the lack of a commercial app for their platform of choice to hammer on the very commercial software they were claiming they want to get away depending on. They just can't have it both ways unfortunately.

Glad to see you're not stereotyping, or anything.

I use Linux because it's the best OS for my particular needs and wants. It would make me happy if they released a K4*nix app. That is all. No agenda. No posturing. No touting. No hammering. Just a wishful left out user.