Overreaction to Apple iBook Author

[leebase]

Make up your mind. Either Apple's new format isn't "all that" and readily reverse engineered....or it's a threat to publishing as we know and love it (or at least love to hate it).

Apple DID innovate the ePub standard...but just didn't CALL the results "ePub". If they had, folks would have been crying FOUL. "Apple is unilaterally changing ePub....".

We don't know what, if any, of the iBooks features will be submitted to ePub. We do know that Apple wasn't about to broadcast it's products plans early by submitting their changes to the ePub committee before launching their product.

And NOBODY IS PRODUCING EPUB3 ANYTHING at this point. It's not a standard...it's a proposal that's early in flux.

If someone wants to make an eText Book, and publish it not on Apple's hardware....they can do so today just as yesterday. If they want to publish on the web, they can. If they want to make interactive CD-Rom's to run on computers they can. If they want to publish on the kindle they can. And people have done ALL of these things for years and years.

If someone wants to publish an eTextbook for the iPad using ePub. They can. The iBooks 2 app still supports ePub, and there's a plethora of other apps they can choose if they don't like the iBooks app. They can make eTextbooks and sell them via Amazon and run on the Kindle app on the iPad, or the kindle web app on the iPad.

None of which need bother with Apple's EULA or be sold via the Apple store.

If they like, they now have an ADDITIONAL OPTION, to create compelling and interactive textbooks FOR THE IPAD, and they can do so with a free tool PROVIDED....they give the textbook away, or sell it via iTunes.

Which platform will succeed to become the REAL standard? Time will tell. There's competition and that's good. That some could wish Apple would create great free software that did not come with the current strings...is understandable. We all like it when corporations spend millions and millions of dollars and then just give us the free products. But I think it's a bit much to actually be too worked up about it.

Lee

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by leebase

Make up your mind. Either Apple's new format isn't "all that" and readily reverse engineered....or it's a threat to publishing as we know and love it (or at least love to hate it).

Whether it is or not is beside the point. There should have been no need to reverse engineer it. That is the anti-social behavior by Apple that I am complaining about. To put it another way, a thief that steals $10 is no less a thief than one that steals $1000. A less competent thief, certainly, but still a thief.

Apple DID innovate the ePub standard...but just didn't CALL the results "ePub". If they had, folks would have been crying FOUL. "Apple is unilaterally changing ePub....".

No, they did not. Your endlessly repeating that they did is not going to make it so. They simply chose to replicate the features already in epub 3 in an obfuscated, proprieatry format.

We don't know what, if any, of the iBooks features will be submitted to ePub. We do know that Apple wasn't about to broadcast it's products plans early by submitting their changes to the ePub committee before launching their product.

Ah so now you've switched from the "boys will be boys" defence to the "he's only borrowing it, he'll put it back in the future" defence. There was absolutely nothing preventing them from submitting their changes to the the IDPF on the day they made the annnouncement, or the day after or even two days after. Or even published a simple two line statement saying that we support the epub standard and are planning to submit our changes to the IDPF.

And for the rest of your argument, you seem to be arguing with someone else. I state that

Apple is damaging the ebook ecosystem by fragmenting it for no good reason.

If you wish, to argue against that statement, do so, but please leave out irrelevancies about iBook Author, or whether anyone else is producing epub3, or how the iPad is good for society or how boys will be boys or how in some indeterminate future ibook will become a standard replacing epub 3 or how it is easy to convert from ibook to epub3.

[plib]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Apple is responsible to their shareholders and customers only. Closed systems are not good for society as a whole but good for the companies that successfully run them. It is just business, can't blame the hawk for trying to kill the chicken.

You are right to make people aware of the pitfalls of using this software, but blaming Apple makes no sense.

Drug cartels are responsible to their shareholders and customers only. Drugs are not good for society as a whole but good for the cartels that successfully sell them. It is just business, can't blame the hawk for trying to kill the chicken.

You are right to make people aware of the pitfalls of using drugs, but blaming the drug cartels makes no sense.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by plib

Drug cartels are responsible to their shareholders and customers only. Drugs are not good for society as a whole but good for the cartels that successfully sell them. It is just business, can't blame the hawk for trying to kill the chicken.

You are right to make people aware of the pitfalls of using drugs, but blaming the drug cartels makes no sense.

Drug cartels? The OP was right on the money. You are overreacting, lol.