[Foundation-l] iBooks vs. wBooks?

[Gregory Varnum]

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
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> foundation-l mailing list
>> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>> 
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l