Microsoft Press Enters Strategic Alliance with O'Reilly

by Tim O'Reilly | @timoreilly | comments: 32

Today, Microsoft and O'Reilly Media announced an agreement to support and expand Microsoft Press. Under the terms of the strategic alliance, O'Reilly will be the exclusive distributor of Microsoft Press titles and co-publisher of all Microsoft Press titles, on Nov. 30, 2009. We'll be working with Microsoft to develop new books, as well as distributing both existing and new co-published books to bookstores, and, perhaps most importantly, to the emerging digital book channels that represent the future of book publishing. Microsoft could have chosen to partner with any of the major computer book publishers. That they chose to work with us is a testament to three advantages we bring to the business:

1. O'Reilly is more than a book publisher. We are an advocate, a connector, and a community builder. We help developers and users make the most of technology, with a focus on what they need to know. Microsoft has a history of building great developer communities, but in today's world, those communities need to be connected with other communities outside Microsoft. Especially in technology, "the world is flat."
2. O'Reilly plays a unique role in the technology ecosystem: from our earliest days, we provided the documentation for important technologies for which there was no "vendor." The internet, the World Wide Web, Linux and other open source software, and Web 2.0 all were documented and given mainstream awareness by O'Reilly books and events. We identify and evangelize the disruptive technologies that reinvigorate the industry.
3. O'Reilly has been a pioneer in the new world of ebooks. In the early 1990s, we co-developed docbook, one of the first standardized formats for ebooks, and the progenitor of future XML-based ebook formats. In 2001, in partnership with the Pearson Technology Group, we launched Safari Books Online, the largest and most comprehensive electronic subscription library of computer books and videos. We've built a successful direct business with DRM-free downloads of ebook bundles that work on any device. We're an early leader in publishing books for the iPhone and other portable reading devices, and understanding how to use ebook channels to reach new customers. And of course, our Tools of Change for Publishing Conference (TOC) has become the place to share knowledge about the changes sweeping through publishing.

On this last point, I'm particularly excited that as part of this agreement, Microsoft has committed to make its ebooks DRM-free and device-independent. One of our goals at O'Reilly has been to make sure that ebook customers can read them on any device, and have the ability to keep using them even if they change their preferred device. Having Microsoft Press join us in this commitment is a big step forward towards an open ebook market.

Four Short Links: 25 August 2009

Reverse Search, PDF Stripping, Flash Visualization, Failure

by Nat Torkington | @gnat | comments: 1

1. Tineye -- reverse search engine; you upload an image and they find you similar images so you know where else it's used. Check out their cool searches.
2. PDF Pirate -- upload a PDF and this web site will give it back to you minus the restrictions on copying/printing/etc.
3. Flare -- an ActionScript library for creating visualizations that run in the Adobe Flash Player. BSD-licensed, modelled on Prefuse. When there's a visualisation library for every platform, will we start to get people who know how to make them?
4. The Importance of Failure (Marco Tabini) -- This is a point that I don't often hear made when people talk about failure; the moral behind a failure-related story is usually about preventing it, or dealing with the aftermath, but not about the fact that sometimes things go bad despite your best efforts, and all the careful risk management and contingency planning won't keep you from going down in flames. This is important, because it forces every person to establish a risk threshold that they are willing to accept in every one of their life efforts.

Four short links: 14 May 2009

Open Source Ebook Reader, Libraries and Ebooks, Life Lessons, and Government Licenses

by Nat Torkington | @gnat | comments: 22

1. Open Library Book Reader -- the page-turning book reader software that the Internet Archive uses is open source. One of the reasons library scanning programs are ineffective is that they try to build new viewing software for each scan-a-bundle-of-books project they get funding for.
2. Should Libraries Have eBooks? -- blog post from an electronic publisher made nervous by the potential for libraries to lend unlimited "copies" of an electronic work simultaneously. He suggests turning libraries into bookstores, compensating publishers for each loan (interestingly, some of the first circulating libraries were established by publishers and booksellers precisely to have a rental trade). I'm wary of the effort to profit from every use of a work, though. I'd rather see libraries limit simultaneous access to in-copyright materials if there's no negotiated license opening access to more. Unlike the author, I don't see this as a situation that justifies DRM, whose poison extends past the term of copyright. (via Paul Reynolds)
3. Lessons Learned from Previous Employment (Adam Shand) -- great summary of what he learned in the different jobs he's had over the years. Sample:
   • More than any other single thing, being successful at something means not giving up.
   • Everything takes longer than you expect. Lots longer.
   • In a volunteer based non-profit people don't have the shared goal of making money. Instead every single person has their own personal agenda to pursue.
   • Unfortunately "dreaming big" is more fun and less work than "doing big".
4. Flickr Creates New License for White House Photos (Wired) -- photos from the White House photographer were originally CC-licensed (yay, a step forward) but when it was pointed out that as government-produced information those photos weren't allowed to be copyright, the White House relicensed as "United States Government Work". Flickr had to add the category, which differs from "No Known Copyright", and it's something that all sharing sites will need to consider if they are going to offer their service to the Government.

Four short links: 25 Mar 2009

by Nat Torkington | @gnat | comments: 3

IT, AI, IQ, and UK today:

1. Definition IT -- a blog about the ways in which IT is becoming a problem and not a solution. In the absence of any independent global standards or best practice models that guide the delivery of technology into businesses we have relinquished control to the suppliers of our technology. The suppliers are in a mammoth arms race to sell more products and this has become the de-facto controller for the delivery of technology into businesses. No one statement in the blog is outrageous, but they add up and indicate an industry that isn't delivering the value it claims to.
2. What is a Good Recommendation Algorithm? -- Greg Linden starts an interesting conversation at the CACM blogs.
3. Why Money Messes With Your Mind (New Scientist) -- interesting psychological research. the volunteers who had been primed with the money-related words worked on the task for longer before asking for help. In a related experiment, people in the money-word group were also significantly less likely to help a fellow student who asked for assistance than were people in the group primed with non-money words.
4. Obama's Diplomatic Gift to UK Leader Fubared by DRM (BoingBoing) -- we can laugh, but Obama's team is stacked with ex-RIAA lawyers.

Four short links: 16 Mar 2009

by Nat Torkington | @gnat | comments: 2

Non-interop earphones with DRM, HVAC swarms, paperprints, and product constipation at GOOG:

1. Apple iPod Shuffle (3rd gen) -- "Surprise: the only third-party headphones that will work are ones that haven’t even entered manufacturing yet, because they’ll need to contain yet another new Apple authentication chip, which will add to their price." It's interesting to see Apple prioritising the different interactions with the device: the ease from using standard connectors is less important than how it looks (no buttons!), and both are less important than securing those hardware margins by tithing every corner of the aftermarket thirdparty addon space. I hope users revolt, but I suspect it'll be viewed like the needless diversity of power cords--a non-fatal inconvenience and irritation. I can only imagine the state of mind that thinks it is acceptable to irk a million people so as to be able to make a few bucks on each set of third-party headphones.
2. Managing Energy with Swarm Logic -- intelligent HVAC gear that wirelessly communicates, figures out the individual power cycles of each appliance, then coordinate (with no central control) to figure out how to optimally run the appliances for maximum efficiency.
3. Fingerprinting Blank Paper Using Commodity Scanners -- Ed Felten's latest work of genius, cranking the contrast on scans of paper at different orientation to produce a texture from which can be calculated a fingerprint that survives printing, crumpling, and moisture. (via bos)
4. Tim Armstrong to Head AOL (Battelle) -- interesting quote from former Googler, "It's very hard to take risks at Google."

Four short links: 19 Jan 2009

by Nat Torkington | @gnat | comments: 0

Hello from Whakapapa, a ski resort in New Zealand. These four links come to you via the wifi at the "highest hotel in New Zealand", which serves as a useful reminder that no matter how unremarkable one might seem, anyone can have a claim to fame if only they work at it.

1. Apple Show Us DRM's True Colors - the EFF checks out where Apple has DRM in its products and discovers that in most cases it has little to do with piracy and more about eliminating legitimate competition. DRM is "bundling" for the 2000s. (via stinky)
2. Rules of Database Aging - this is so true. I think everyone who read this said, "this is so true". Cue Santayana quote.
3. Blog Converters Released - apparently Google has Data Liberation Front that has released a converter to let you switch between Blogger, LiveJournal, MovableType, and WordPress formats for blog archives. When they add Twitter, they might make Tim Bray feel better about Twitter. (via waxy)
4. Hana - an absolutely beautiful screensaver for OS X (other platforms soon, I hope) that simulates every flower it shows. I could try to justify this as tied into the growing trend of simulations as the skills of simulation drive more fields of life, but really it's just pretty. And who doesn't need a drop more pretty in their life?