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Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

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Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#11

Post by tdavis »

extension wrote: post #7

Perhaps I'm missing something but wasn't the "publishing documents on the internet" problem solved long ago by The World Wide Web? Or is the purpose of Scribd to recreate the magical experience of reading various dead tree formats, even though it doesn't actually do that?

It isn't solved until it is wrapped in a proprietary, inaccessible, bloated format like Flash. Or rendered within Javascript so you can get cool page-turning effects. Or put in a PDF inside a PowerPoint which can then be downloaded via a link on a site. Or... I am out of asinine ideas.

Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#12

Post by dbrush »

tdavis wrote: post #11
extension wrote: post #7

Perhaps I'm missing something but wasn't the "publishing documents on the internet" problem solved long ago by The World Wide Web? Or is the purpose of Scribd to recreate the magical experience of reading various dead tree formats, even though it doesn't actually do that?

It isn't solved until it is wrapped in a proprietary, inaccessible, bloated format like Flash. Or rendered within Javascript so you can get cool page-turning effects. Or put in a PDF inside a PowerPoint which can then be downloaded via a link on a site. Or... I am out of asinine ideas.

Or a company might decide to try to solve the problem by gathering and indexing all of these documents so they are more accessible than if they were spattered over thousands of locations, unsearchable, and cost time and money to find.

Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#14

Post by axod »

lionheart wrote: post #10

Why does there seem to be such anti-Scribd sentiment here?

A large amount of the content on scribd is actually plain text, or images. Wrapping those in a bloated proprietary flash 'player' is just evil.

Microsoft will probably buy them and wrap it all in a liberal layer of DRM and silverlight.

For me, Scribd is the caveat to "make something people want". It's undoubtedly popular with people who don't know how to share text/documents, but it's not good in the bigger picture.

Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#16

Post by [deleted] »

zhyder wrote: post #9

Every time there's a Scribd-related post on HN, the comments are negative and repetitive. I don't use the service either, but: 1. It's successful, at least in terms of traffic, so it's worth watching and perhaps learning from. 2. The web hasn't obliterated the old document formats (yet). Not everyone that has content in those formats has the time or inclination to replicate the layout in HTML, so Scribd is making dis…

[deleted]

Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#17

Post by Maro »

dbrush wrote: post #12
tdavis wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't solved until it is wrapped in a proprietary, inaccessible, bloated format like Flash. Or rendered within Javascript so you can get cool page-turning effects. Or put in a PDF inside a PowerPoint which can then be downloaded via a link on a site. Or... I am out of asinine ideas.

Or a company might decide to try to solve the problem by gathering and indexing all of these documents so they are more accessible than if they were spattered over thousands of locations, unsearchable, and cost time and money to find.

Like Google?

Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#18

Post by ntoshev »

sdurkin wrote: post #5
wyclif wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reader embedded in the Scribd site drives me insane.

Windows PDF viewing is problematic. Scribd's iPaper eliminates that problem. Do you use Windows?

I do. Google Chrome and Safari both open PDFs very smoothly on Windows. Even in Firefox I am not sure Scribd is an improvement over opening plain PDF (it shows a progress indicator, but it might as well take more time to open in total).

Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#19

Post by dbrush »

Maro wrote: post #17
dbrush wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a company might decide to try to solve the problem by gathering and indexing all of these documents so they are more accessible than if they were spattered over thousands of locations, unsearchable, and cost time and money to find.

Like Google?

Can you click a button and make Google index new content on your site?

Do you use Google video search before you use Youtube?

Re: Major Book Publishers Start Turning To Scribd

#20

Post by dbrush »

axod wrote: post #14
lionheart wrote: post #10

Why does there seem to be such anti-Scribd sentiment here?

A large amount of the content on scribd is actually plain text, or images. Wrapping those in a bloated proprietary flash 'player' is just evil. Microsoft will probably buy them and wrap it all in a liberal layer of DRM and silverlight. For me, Scribd is the caveat to "make something people want". It's undoubtedly popular with people who don't know how to share text/documents, but it's not good in the bigger picture.

Principle probably doesn't come into play when the majority of people want to consume or share information in the form of text, video and imagery. Using Scribd or Youtube is very much a proof that people have found an easy way to share their information. It seems you're confusing "don't know how" with "aren't doing it while abiding by the principles they should have".

I agree with what you wrote yesterday concerning weights and measures. "Leave people to use what they want to use."

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