Re: An interesting note...

I think this goes away almost entirely the moment we are talking about a
format which is a first-class citizen of the web.

If a browser inherently knows what to do with a PWP (either through a
polyfill or not – the average user won't know or care) when presented with
one and opens it up immediately, then it becomes a much more universal
format than EPUB right out of the gate. Nowadays most browsers will open
PDF, but even before then, it was clear and obvious to users where to go if
a computer didn't know what to do with a .pdf file.

Anyway, perhaps there is a use case here as well – "I've just come across a
PWP on the web, and now I want to sideload it into a dedicated reading
environment". (I say reading environment loosely. It may be a RS on the
same device, it may be a separate dedicated device, etc) How does the user
achieve this? Is it through the browser "File>Save as…"? Is there
ubiquitous UI within all PWPs instead?

-Nick

Nick Barreto

*Co-founder & Technology Director**CANELO *| www.canelo.co
@canelo_co <https://twitter.com/canelo_co> | @nickbarreto
<http://www.twitter.com/nickbarreto>


On 20 April 2016 at 16:19, Nick Ruffilo <nickruffilo@gmail.com> wrote:

> I was just contacted by a publisher who was researching how an ebook got
> leaked and distributed by a pirate before the release date.
>
> What I found most interesting was this: the epub (which was the source
> file stolen" was converted via Calibre to PDF before being distributed...
>
> This is NOT a discussion about piracy or DRM - this is meant to be an
> eye-opening situation...
>
> Despite your view on piracy, most pirates aim to make content as widely
> accessible as possible.  It was their determination that it was better for
> popularity to release the ebook as a PDF than an epub...
>
> Granted, when you buy from a digital retailer that immediately loads the
> ebook into an app, format doesn't matter, but what it seems here is that
> when it comes to sideloading, epub is not seen as a good format - which
> means that anyone attempting to sell epub files that does not have an app
> that directly loads their content is at a major disadvantage...
>
> This is something we should seek to avoid with PWP - if it is not going to
> be as easy, or easier than PDF, it is not reaching it's goal...
>
> --
> - Nick Ruffilo
> @NickRuffilo
> Aer.io an *INGRAM* company
>
>