Taxi [Chat]er

wandering

although surely delightful

that's not the work safiest image

Organichu

japan wrote:

Organichu wrote:

japan maybe we can talk about this in here to avoid hedgie's prying, grubby eyes.

what do you mean by 'release the spec'? are you suggesting that apple's educational initiatives ought to be open source?

It seems like Apple are trying to do with ebooks what Microsoft pulled a few times with various technologies, where they start introducing proprietary extensions to previously universal formats, and then relying on the leverage of market dominance to force out competitors who are unable to replicate those features. In some ways they're going further than Microsoft ever did by looking to also become the publisher of the content.

When I say "release the spec" I mean that if they're going to extend a format outside of of the standard that exists for it, they should at least make what they're doing transparent, so that they don't lock other vendors out of being able to use that content.

What will probably happen with ebooks, though, is the same trajectory most media has followed in the transition from physical to digital:
physical format -> a series of platform-specific, non-interoperable formats -> the failure of those services -> platform agnostic file formats.

That's what happened with music, with films, with mobile web, is happening with TV, and looks like it is beginning to happen with ebooks in that closed ecosystems with DRM are popping up that are probably going to burn a few people when they fail.

i think you're overestimating the deviation from standards, here. proprietary doesn't mean alien. apple might be first to the table with an impressive prototype of this idea, but it is not all in-house development tools. it is true for the user- that is, in the near future, to produce a product anything like what comes out of the ibooks author application, you'll be sol. but that is the case with any new release, really. the product is idiosyncratic mostly in that it has that flourish of apple's excellent mind for design. the underlying tech isn't something that defies replication.

Nerdgasmic

RMS Oceanic wrote:

Forensics guys are coming round to check my car for prints. I expect they'll never catch the guy, but it's nice they're coming round.

are you sure they weren't messing with you

japan

RMS Oceanic wrote:

Forensics guys are coming round to check my car for prints. I expect they'll never catch the guy, but it's nice they're coming round.

It happens occasionally, usually when the culprit is some little scrote that's been caught for the same thing before.

If you claiming on your insurance, make sure you tell them if the police catch anyone. Insurers love slapping CCJs (or whatever the NI equivalent is) on thieves and vandals. I certainly find it satisfying.

BeNarwhal

'Ello [chat]

Having a lovely morning so far.

Woke up around 7, made a lovely breakfast for the missus and myself, and now I'm watching Fulham and Newcastle play terribly mediocre soccer.

japan

Organichu wrote:

Spoiler:

japan wrote:

Organichu wrote:

japan maybe we can talk about this in here to avoid hedgie's prying, grubby eyes.

what do you mean by 'release the spec'? are you suggesting that apple's educational initiatives ought to be open source?

It seems like Apple are trying to do with ebooks what Microsoft pulled a few times with various technologies, where they start introducing proprietary extensions to previously universal formats, and then relying on the leverage of market dominance to force out competitors who are unable to replicate those features. In some ways they're going further than Microsoft ever did by looking to also become the publisher of the content.

When I say "release the spec" I mean that if they're going to extend a format outside of of the standard that exists for it, they should at least make what they're doing transparent, so that they don't lock other vendors out of being able to use that content.

What will probably happen with ebooks, though, is the same trajectory most media has followed in the transition from physical to digital:
physical format -> a series of platform-specific, non-interoperable formats -> the failure of those services -> platform agnostic file formats.

That's what happened with music, with films, with mobile web, is happening with TV, and looks like it is beginning to happen with ebooks in that closed ecosystems with DRM are popping up that are probably going to burn a few people when they fail.

i think you're overestimating the deviation from standards, here. proprietary doesn't mean alien. apple might be first to the table with an impressive prototype of this idea, but it is not all in-house development tools. it is true for the user- that is, in the near future, to produce a product anything like what comes out of the ibooks author application, you'll be sol. but that is the case with any new release, really. the product is idiosyncratic mostly in that it has that flourish of apple's excellent mind for design. the underlying tech isn't something that defies replication.

You may be right, I haven't looked at it in detail.

Apple doesn't have the best track record of making anything purchased from an i[store] usable in other contexts, though. I always get the impression that they only shifted to DRM-free for iTunes grudgingly, and I think your still stuck for purchased films and TV?

TL DR

Went to bed at like 9

Woke up at like 10:30 this morning to a welfare check from the kitty.

Donkey Kong

japan wrote:

Organichu wrote:

Spoiler:

japan wrote:

Organichu wrote:

japan maybe we can talk about this in here to avoid hedgie's prying, grubby eyes.

what do you mean by 'release the spec'? are you suggesting that apple's educational initiatives ought to be open source?

It seems like Apple are trying to do with ebooks what Microsoft pulled a few times with various technologies, where they start introducing proprietary extensions to previously universal formats, and then relying on the leverage of market dominance to force out competitors who are unable to replicate those features. In some ways they're going further than Microsoft ever did by looking to also become the publisher of the content.

When I say "release the spec" I mean that if they're going to extend a format outside of of the standard that exists for it, they should at least make what they're doing transparent, so that they don't lock other vendors out of being able to use that content.

What will probably happen with ebooks, though, is the same trajectory most media has followed in the transition from physical to digital:
physical format -> a series of platform-specific, non-interoperable formats -> the failure of those services -> platform agnostic file formats.

That's what happened with music, with films, with mobile web, is happening with TV, and looks like it is beginning to happen with ebooks in that closed ecosystems with DRM are popping up that are probably going to burn a few people when they fail.

i think you're overestimating the deviation from standards, here. proprietary doesn't mean alien. apple might be first to the table with an impressive prototype of this idea, but it is not all in-house development tools. it is true for the user- that is, in the near future, to produce a product anything like what comes out of the ibooks author application, you'll be sol. but that is the case with any new release, really. the product is idiosyncratic mostly in that it has that flourish of apple's excellent mind for design. the underlying tech isn't something that defies replication.

You may be right, I haven't looked at it in detail.

Apple doesn't have the best track record of making anything purchased from an i[store] usable in other contexts, though. I always get the impression that they only shifted to DRM-free for iTunes grudgingly, and I think your still stuck for purchased films and TV?

That perception is false. Jobs lobbied the music industry extensively and considered it a huge victory when he convinced them to go DRM-free. iTunes was the first major music store to do so and set an industry standard which everyone now enjoys. TV content producers and movie producers have been unwilling to do it though.

Jacobkosh

@Bogart

Bogart wrote:

@jacobkosh, that turbo transam tumblr sure is something. Am now dedicated to going through every page.

Excellent :^:

BeNarwhal

Browsed around on the Barcelona Tourism website for about 10 minutes before I realised it was in Spanish. I'm not sure what this means.

Jacobkosh

japan, give the people a new chat

TL,DR is backup