Slightly off topic - Ebooks

[Edward Ned Harvey]

> Jane Average is going to be more upset than you are.
> 
> Why? Because she buys a Kindle, has two years of happiness
> during which she purchases 2 books a month from Amazon at $10
> apiece, gets a couple of Gutenberg etexts (_Pride and Prejudice_
> is still popular) and then...
> 
> And then she sees her friend has just bought a Sony SuperBook,
> which has a color video-capable screen and a dozen games on it
> as well. So she orders a SuperBook from Amazon, it's delivered,
> and...
> 
> Only the Gutenberg books will transfer over.

I also predict that Amazon will always remain backward compatible, capable
of reading their own books from past purchases.  They know they would anger
their own customers if they didn't support their own past purchases.  The
two weaknesses here that I acknowledge are:

(a) What if amazon collapses or something?  Then your past amazon purchases
may be at risk.
and
(b) What if you want to switch to something other than Kindle?  If amazon
doesn't allow others to read their format, they may have created a lock-in.
It's yet to be seen, if amazon will ever open up their format.  They may
open it up voluntarily someday, or they may be legally required to someday
by antitrust legislation.