Microsoft to offer book search

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Actually, I'm right here

---I think they are. After all they got permission. Why would
publishers give MS permission but not google. Since the article
isn't too specific, we are not going to see an itemized sheet. Why
do you think a phrase search is that important? Most people are
looking for what the book is all about before they buy it. And MS
will give the publishers more money for a phrase search if they
think their model is inferior. They are sick of courts. Google isn't
going to win and MS senses it.---

Lots and lots of publishers gave Google permission as well (my
company included). Many of us see this as a great way to sell
more books, particularly our obscure books. We've given Google
full permisson to scan and index our books (but not to show the
full contents, only search related snippets). Google did not pay
us a penny for this, and the deal works exactly the same for
Yahoo and Microsoft. And the real costs here are the physical
scanning of the book, much moreso than anything else involved,
that's where MS is promising to spend money (and they may end
up just scanning in public domain books, and no books under
copyright at all, depending on what they're assigned by the
group heading the project).

Phrase search is extremely important for many types of
publishers. For a publisher of fiction, no, not so important. For
a publisher of technical manuals, very important. If a scientist
wants instructions and background for one technique that's
found in a book that contains 5000 techniques, it's going to be
very hard for him to know it's in there from merely knowing
what the book is all about. Reading a synopsis will work for
some readers and some books. Having detailed information on
the contents will work for others, which means more book sales.

I'm not going to argue the merits of a case, your opinion and
mine don't really matter, it'll be up to the judge. But for MS,
there's nothing to lose here, and it's a wise business model. Start
with the free public domain books and the books where you've
been given free permission. Get your system up and running
and work out the bugs. Then, once the Google decision comes
down:
1) if Google wins, then it's fair use and you get to scan anything
you want for free to make a complete and useful search tool
2) if Google loses, you can work out a licensing deal with
publishers and complete your search tool

Note that if 1) happens, there's no way MS would pay publishers
if the courts said they don't have to. It'd be stupid, and MS are
way too smart as businessmen to waste huge amounts of money
like that.

Posted by: tic swayback   Posted on: 10/27/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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