Cory Doctorow: "Hardware ebook readers are a dead end"

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by librarianchat

Until I read the thread date, I thought maybe he just meant a dedicated device as an e-reader. Thinking maybe he meant that the iPad tablets would eventually steal all of the market. But nope. He really meant that people wouldn't read on devices period.

Where does he state this? He was talking about dedicated devices. He has made much of the fact that we "do enjoy reading from a screen."

[nicabod]

I recently bought a Craig 738b Android tablet (NOT recommended, btw, although the display is nice), and had my first experience with e-books, these from Project Gutenberg (no images?). Wanted to "go horizontal" and explore what I'd downloaded. Discovered something unexpected. Lying on my side, I found that the accelerometer (gravity sensor) kept making the display rotate to an awkward angle. I needed a disable function. No, we'll never have a gravity-sensitive paperback.

[Kumabjorn]

That is usually built-in. The Kindle app comes with a locking feature, I think Aldiko does as well. It would surprise me if other apps that has been Honeycomb optimized don't have that funtion. It is usually also available in the tablets features.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Nobody can question Cory Doctorow's expertise when it comes to writing award-winning Sci-Fi novels and advocating liberalized copyright laws. Whether he is also a good predictor of what the future holds for e-reader devices remains to be seen. From his latest Locus column, "Put Not Your Faith In Ebook Readers"

I just spotted this old thread.

If I didn't write it before I'd write it now. His and Richard Stallman's views on copyright are too extreme. Also you can have Open Source without GPLx. I support the right of people to produce or use Open Source SW or HW but it must not be inflicted.

I'd have doubts too about how good is SF is and anyway even if you are the best author in the world it doesn't mean you are expert at anything other than writing.

False Expert Syndrome. C.f. Stephen Fry on Tech (He's an actor) or Dawkins on Theology (A biologist).

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Dawking on Theology (A biologist).

I assume you mean Richard Dawkins. I don't think he claims to be an expert on theology. He just claims that there is no reason to assume that something like God exists, and that that means that theology is as much a science as, say, astrology is: internally consistent, perhaps, but without any use or meaning in the real world.

That seems a logical stance to me, assuming that one agrees with his basic idea, which a theologian probably wouldn't

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

I assume you mean Richard Dawkins. I don't think he claims to be an expert on theology. He just claims that there is no reason to assume that something like God exists, and that that means that theology is as much a science as, say, astrology is: internally consistent, perhaps, but without any use or meaning in the real world.

That seems a logical stance to me, assuming that one agrees with his basic idea, which a theologian probably wouldn't

He wrote The God Delusion

Eastern Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart says that Dawkins "devoted several pages of The God Delusion to a discussion of the 'Five Ways' of Thomas Aquinas but never thought to avail himself of the services of some scholar of ancient and mediaeval thought who might have explained them to him ... As a result, he not only mistook the Five Ways for Thomas's comprehensive statement on why we should believe in God, which they most definitely are not, but ended up completely misrepresenting the logic of every single one of them, and at the most basic levels."

It's a badly researched attack on mainstream religion, not an honest argument for Atheism.
It's acceptable to ignore philosophy or to be an atheist. Or to write a book explaining why you think god is a delusion. But if you are making arguments against Christianity in particular rather than against a belief in god(s) you ought to research the differences between Hinduism, Christianity etc. and not publish an entire book full of childish errors about what people actually believe.

Science has little to say about Philosophy. It's a different field. Faith systems and Religions may overlap Philosophy. Atheism is a Philosophy. Humanism is a kind of religion where faith is in humans rather than god. Neither can be proven by science.

Being an expert biologist doesn't make someone an expert on theology or philosophy. Neither theologians or philosophers (especially) need to believe (have faith in) what they write. There have been plenty of CofE Bishops & Ministers that have been (and are) atheists. Also theologians. No shortage of philosophers that are atheists.

[pdurrant]

Please keep Religious discussions to the P&R forum.

[Quoth]

Sorry. It was meant to be about how little value anyone's opinion might be on any subject they are not expert on.
Famous quotes by Stephen Fry are a good example.
See
https://search.theregister.com/?q=Stephen+Fry&site=

[Barty]

Everybody I know who reads books at all has a Kindle. (I'm the lone one who has branched out to a Kobo). But I'm probably in a very specific demographic.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Barty

Everybody I know who reads books at all has a Kindle. (I'm the lone one who has branched out to a Kobo). But I'm probably in a very specific demographic.

Whereas around my relatives and acquaintances, Kobo users outnumber Kindles users by around 12:1. Perhaps being in a different country?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Barty

Everybody I know who reads books at all has a Kindle. (I'm the lone one who has branched out to a Kobo). But I'm probably in a very specific demographic.

Me as well. I'm probably in the same demographic as you, but even relatives who I only think of as occasional readers (they read a book a month or less) all have ereaders.

This being the US, they all have Kindles except for our Nook and Kobo selves. But the brand isn't so important, so far as the thrust of this thread. Almost 15 years later and ereaders seem to have found their niche.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Almost 15 years later and ereaders seem to have found their niche.

Well, not here. I don't know anyone who uses an ereader, besides myself and my niece, who got one of mine. I never see any in public transport either. Everyone has their nose in their phone, or very occasionally in a tablet. No ereaders. But then, ebooks aren't particularly popular here. Local stuff is expensive and probably lots of people borrow from a library, which you can only do with paper books here. The only local book subscription service only works on phones and tablets, not on eink and not even in a browser.

OTOH, I've managed to sell all my old ereaders relatively quickly, so there must be some people who use them.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

This being the US, they all have Kindles except for our Nook and Kobo selves. But the brand isn't so important, so far as the thrust of this thread. Almost 15 years later and ereaders seem to have found their niche.

This. See also, vinyl records.

[Quoth]

Vinyl is a niche fashion fad. Still outsold by CDs which are far superior.
Spotify seems to be hurting iTunes more than CDs.

[Calenorn]

If it doesn't go away, can we call it a fad?