RE: Article: The e-book era is here (despite reports to the contr ary)

["Swallow, William" <WSwallow -at- courion -dot- com>]

But Bruce, you don't understand... this is an *eBook* we're talking about...
an eeeeee-Book... Why, it's the next best thing since the paperback!

*vbg*

I have to agree with Bruce. The eBook technology is very non-impressive, and
actually is obtrusive in its security controls. I personally like to make
backup copies of files and important passages from texts in the event of a
boo-boo. eBooks don't necessarily allow for this. They can also be locked,
like PDFs, to disallow printing.

Dunno... Like I said before, there's nothing like a physical book,
especially in times of frustration. When frustrated, you can wing a book at
a wall and safely pick it up and resume reading. Until they make a computer
or portable reader that can withstand that, I'll stick to paper (with an
additional online copy, of course *g*).

***************** 
BILL SWALLOW 
Technical Writer 
C O U R I O N   C O R P O R A T I O N 
1881 Worcester Road 
Framingham, Mass.  01701 
T E L * 508-879-8400 x316 
F A X * 508-879-8500 
www.courion.com 
***************** 
THIS EMAIL CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
MEANT FOR THE INTENDED RECIPIENT ONLY. PLEASE
DELETE THIS IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT IN ERROR.


-----Original Message-----
It sounds exaggerated to me. Yes, these changes are happening, and may very
likely continue to happen. But not everybody goes along with them by any
means.
A few isolated examples don't make a trend.

I can't help noticing  that the article fails to make a distinction between
the
Internet and ebooks. On-line journals and reference materials aren't exactly
the
same thing as ebooks. You may subscribe to on-line references, but you often
don't get a physical copy of the information you subscribe to, and many
people
don't miss one. I suspect that one reason that actual ebooks haven't done
well
is that they combine the old distribution method of the traditional books
with
an electronic form. Ebooks are neither as convenient, as easy on the eyes
nor as
unbreakable as traditional books, nor as easy to update as on-line
information.
They seem to combine the worse of both technologies, rather than the best.

Finally, I have heard predictions of the end of the traditional book as long
as
the personal computer has existed. I'm still waiting for it to happen. Maybe
improved screen technologies or distribution methods may give ebooks a place
in
publishing. Yet, if that happens, I don't think that ebooks will replace
traditional books any more than photography replaced painting, or movies
replaced theatre or TV replaced radio. The technologies are far more likely
to
co-exist.

Of course, it may be, too, that ebooks represent one of those technologies
that
very few people want, such as the video telephone (which I first remember
seeing
as a child in the Sixties), virtual reality or the "social desktop (AKA
Bob). So
far, anyway, there aren't any compelling reasons to use it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and 
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe.  http://ieeepcs.org/2001/

  +++  Miramo -- Database/XML publishing automation.  See us at  +++
  +++  Seybold SFO, Sept. 25-27, in the Adobe Partners Pavilion  +++
  +++ More info: http://www.axialinfo.com  http://www.miramo.com +++

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.