[Summary]
With so many formats showing up in 1998-2001 for new electronic
devices, the digital publishing industry felt the need to work on a
standard for ebooks. The National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) in the U.S. launched the Open eBook Initiative in June 1998,
with a 25-people task force named Open eBook Authoring Group. In
September 1999 was released the first version of the Open eBook (OeB)
format, based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and defined by the
Open eBook Publication Structure (OeBPS), with a free version belonging
to public domain and a full version to be used with or without DRM by
the publishing industry. The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) was created in
January 2000 to develop the OeB format and OeBPS specifications. Since
2000, most ebook formats have derived from the OeB format, for example
the PRC format from Mobipocket and the LIT format from Microsoft.
***
With so many formats showing up in 1998-2001 for new electronic
devices, the digital publishing industry felt the need to work on a
standard for ebooks.
On top of the “classical” formats -- TXT (text), DOC (Microsoft Word),
HTML (HyperText Markup Language), XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and
PDF (Portable Document Format) -- other formats were the Glassbook
Reader, the Peanut Reader, the Rocket eBook Reader (for the Rocket
eBook), the Franklin Reader (for the eBookMan), the Cytale software
(for the Cybook 1st generation), the Gemstar eBook Reader (for the
Gemstar eBook) and the Palm Reader (for the Palm Pilot). Some formats
were meant for a given device, either a PDA or an ebook reader, and
couldn’t be used on other devices.
# Open eBook (OeB)
The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) in the U.S.
launched the Open eBook Initiative in June 1998, with a 25-people task
force named Open eBook Authoring Group. In September 1999 was released
the first version of the Open eBook (OeB) format, based on XML
(eXtensible Markup Language) and defined by the Open eBook Publication
Structure (OeBPS), with a free version belonging to public domain and a
full version to be used with or without DRM by the publishing industry.
The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) was created in January 2000 as an
industrial consortium (with 85 participants in 2002) to develop the OeB
format and OeBPS specifications. Since 2000, most ebook formats have
derived from the OeB format, for example LIT from Microsoft and PRC
format from Mobipocket.
# LIT from Microsoft
Microsoft launched its own PDA, the Pocket PC, in April 2000, with the
Microsoft Reader, for people to read books in LIT (from "literature")
format, a format based on the OeB format. The Microsoft Reader was also
available for computers in August 2000, and then for any Windows
platform, including for the new Tablets PC launched in November 2002.
Microsoft was billing publishers and distributors for the use of its
DRM technology through the Microsoft Digital Asset Server (DAS), with a
commission on each sale. Microsoft partnered with Barnes & Noble.com in
January 2000 and Amazon.com in August 2000, for them to offer ebooks
for the Microsoft Reader in their eBookStores soon to be launched.
Barnes & Noble.com opened its eBookStore in August 2000, followed by
Amazon in November 2000.
Pocket PC’s first OS, Windows CE, was replaced in October 2001 by
Pocket PC 2002 to handle the reading of copyrighted books. In 2002,
people could read books on three software: Microsoft Reader of course,
Mobipocket Reader and Palm Reader, the software of the Palm Pilot,
launched in March 1996 as the first PDA of the market.
# PRC from Mobipocket
Mobipocket was founded in March 2000 in Paris, France, by Thierry
Brethes and Nathalie Ting, as a company specializing in ebooks for
PDAs, with part of the funding coming from Viventures, a branch of the
French multinational Vivendi.
The Mobipocket format (PRC, based on the OeB format) and the Mobipocket
Reader could be used on any PDA, and also on any computer from April
2002.
In October 2001, the Mobipocket Reader received the eBook Technology
Award from the International Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany.
Mobipocket partnered with Franklin for the Mobipocket Reader to be
available on the eBookMan along with the Franklin Reader, instead of
the initially planned Microsoft Reader.
The Mobipocket Web Companion was a software (for a fee) for extracting
content from partner news sites. The Mobipocket Publisher was used by
individuals (free version for private use, and standard version for a
fee) or publishers (professional version for a fee) to create ebooks
using the Mobipocket DRM technology for controlling access to
copyrighted ebooks. The Mobipocket Publisher could also create ebooks
in LIT format for the Microsoft Reader.
In spring 2003, the Mobipocket Reader was available in five languages
(French, English, German, Spanish, Italian) and could be used on any
PDA, computer and smartphone. 6,000 titles in several languages were
available on the website of Mobipocket and in online partner
bookstores. Mobipocket was bought by Amazon in April 2005.
# EPUB, a new standard
In April 2005, the Open eBook Forum was replaced with the International
Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), et OeB was replaced with EPUB, an
acronym for «electronic publication». EPUB allowed the reflowing of
text depending on the size of the screen. Recent PDF files (PDF being
another standard for ebooks) have been compatible with EPUB.