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Microsoft jacks up book-scanning program
Michelle Pauli, Deal takes Microsoft further into Google territory, The Guardian, October 17, 2006. Excerpt:
Comment. The Google and Microsoft projects (along with all the other book-digitizing projects) could be seen as complementary rather than competitive. For us, the more the merrier. But insofar as they are competitive, we also win. Imagine very wealthy companies racing to make more literature more usefully available to more people. The least complementary aspect of the proliferating projects is the lack of coordination to reduce redundant book-scans. But for now, even redundant scans work in our favor, limiting corporate lock-in and creating competition to make the overlapping editions more and more accessible. Remember that Google didn't originally allow downloading or printing even for its public-domain books, but pressure from users and rivals led it to lift these restrictions in August. Update. Also see the Kirtas press release and the Cornell press release. |