Open E-book Standards
Include markup language, file transmission format and rights certificate
Championed by Microsoft working with e-book providers, h/w mfrs, publishers...
Notes:
See http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/15501
�Electronic books are coming, and Thursday's [10/8/98] announcement at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that Microsoft is throwing its weight behind the establishment of industry-wide voluntary guidelines for formatting and distributing electronic texts -- the �Open eBook standard� -- strengthens a coalition hoping to prevent a standards stand-off like the ones that daunted the introduction of VCRs and 56K modems�. [Per Dick Brass, Microsoft] �The standards are based on HTML and XML, which is what many of the e-book pioneers are choosing to use. The standards are designed to be compatible with what the earliest pioneers are already doing, so there won't be a penalty for buying early. The last thing we want is for people to wait six months until the standards are fully implemented. We think they can buy now and safely, and we'll create the final specifications in such a way that the content will be usable on later machines. The standards provide for a file transmission format in which all the titles can be packaged, [as well as] a markup language and a rights certificate so that the titles can be distributed securely�. We've left the door open for significant changes and additions, so that as the standard emerges over the next several months, we'll have an industry standard that's widely supported�.[In addition to ebook manufacturers]We're working with Hitachi and other manufacturers who we can't yet mention, and barnesandnoble.com, along with Bertelsmann, Simon and Schuster, Harper-Collins, Penguin-Putnam, and Time-Warner Books.��