[Foundation-l] iBooks vs. wBooks?

[Orionist]

In fact Apple took the standard epub format and added their own proprietary
elements, thus creating a new proprietary "ibooks" format. The new format
will only be readable with the iBooks 2 software which is confined to iOS.
The format specs are not published either, so I won't hold my breath for
compatible readers from other companies.


Regards,
--
Orionist



On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 2:12 AM, Gregory Varnum <gregory.varnum at gmail.com>wrote:

> I'm confused by what you mean by "walled garden".  If this were the same
> as the App Store model where they have a custom iOS app format and their
> store is the only place to get it - that would make sense to me.  That
> doesn't seem to be the case here..
>
> My understanding was the ebooks created with iBook Author works in any
> ebooks store that supports HTML5 standards.  I've been testing some ebooks
> we threw together on lots of devices (almost all non-Apple) with no
> problems.  We've even turned some of them into interactive web pages.
>
> I haven't heard of this software breaking the current standard so much as
> further enabling HTML5 within it - but I could be wrong.
>
> -greg
>
>
> On Jan 25, 2012, at 4:16 PM, Gerard Meijssen wrote:
>
> > Hoi,
> > I think we should not support Apple in breaking the standard and in
> > preventing us from using our work anywhere else. We take pride in being
> > freely licensed and there is no excuse for the walled garden approach
> taken
> > by Apple. There is also no excuse for us endorsing this behaviour.
> >
> > Obviously as what we do is freely licensed or public domain you can do
> > whatever as long as the license requirements are maintained. I am sure
> that
> > as a consequence you cannot legally publish in Apple's walled garden. I
> > hate to see anything done in this area that is endorsed by the Wikimedia
> > Foundation.
> > Thanks,
> >     Gerard
> >
> > On 20 January 2012 10:46, Magnus Manske <magnusmanske at googlemail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> (This mail is focused on books, but the topic is of more general
> >> interest IMHO, thus foundation-l)
> >>
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I just saw the "iBooks Author" news:
> >>
> >>
> http://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/19/a-closer-look-at-ibooks-author-textbooks-and-exclusivity/
> >>
> >> Of course, all these pretty books will be only available in the Apple
> >> paywalled garden.
> >>
> >> So I thought: As they use basically HTML5 (plus a few proprietary
> >> libraries), could we produce such interactive, tablet/phone-enabled
> >> e-books ("wBooks" as in "Wikimedia":-) from free content? I believe
> >> the answer is yes, though it might be quite a push technologically
> >> (just to be clear, I am speaking of the books here, not of the
> >> authoring software).
> >>
> >> Also: Should we? I believe the answer is yes as well, for two reasons.
> >> One, Apples work here might (yet again) set a new standard, which
> >> means everything falling short of that standard will be neglected by
> >> the target audience, which runs counter to our declared goal of
> >> disseminating free knowledge; standing still might well mean falling
> >> behind. Another reason is the opportunity that Apple creates for us
> >> here: Once such e-books become accepted as general teaching tools in
> >> schools, it will be much easier to switch from Apple-only, costly
> >> books to run-everywhere, free books; they might just win the
> >> "technology battle" for us.
> >>
> >>
> >> What do you think?
> >>
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Magnus
> >>
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