Google eBooks als ‘open’ alternatief ?

Een al ouder (8 dec 2010) artikel op [b]Slate[/b] over het punt dat Google eBooks als [i]open[/i] alternatief wordt aangeprezen voor de Amazon Kindle Store : [url=http://www.slate.com/id/2277298/pagenum/all/]Google’s ”Open” Books – Don’t believe the rhetoric behind the search company’s new Kindle rival.[/url]

De kern van het artikel :
[quote]So, shouldn’t I be happy about Google’s entrance into the book market? Won’t this deep-pocketed, “open” rival take down Amazon’s e-book juggernaut?

Not at all. That’s because Google’s e-books are “open” in the same way that politicians are “bipartisan” and oil companies are “green”—the claim makes for good marketing, even if it lacks substance. Buying from Google rather than Amazon will give you no greater control over your books. You’re not likely to get any practical benefit from going with Google, either. In fact, Amazon’s “closed” books will soon work on more devices than Google’s “open” books.[/quote]
Met als konklusie :
[quote]But I’d be even happier if Google wasn’t touting half-closed openness as its store’s main selling point. In the absence of real openness, Google ought to have something that Amazon doesn’t: more books, cheaper books, prettier books, books with more functions, more reviews of books, better recommendations, some kind of social-networking integration—something, [i]anything[/i], that would distinguish it from the bookselling herd. Calling something “open” isn’t enough, especially when it’s actually closed.[/quote]