Google Books-Read The Google Way
Thursday, March 4, 2010 1:05
Nowadays, Web is flooded with controversies and the number of court cases is on the rise. A few weeks ago, cases were filed against Microsoft, DELL, EBay, Skype and others as well. But now many have turned against Google. Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon stand in front of Google with scorn in their eyes.
Google’s project named as, Google Books, is facing many oppositions. Major players like and competitors Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon have teamed up in order to stop Google from selling copyrighted books over the internet. With the increasing opposition.
Last year Google settled a deal with many publishing houses allowing it to digitize books which are still under copyright but are out of print. Google has now hunted all these books and hunted them down so that they can be made available for readers around the world. Under the settlement Google is allowed to print and sell any copyrighted book and share the profits earned with the writer and authors.
A number of companies are against this deal,
The non-profit organization Internet Archive, which has been very critical of the settlement, has managed to get a number of big companies to join its cause and, together with prominent Silicon Valley antitrust lawyer Gary L. Reback, plans to present its case in court. Microsoft and Yahoo have confirmed they have joined the alliance but Amazon has declined to comment. Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos was, however, very critical, commenting on the deal earlier this summer.
Google defense mechanism says that it has no intention of hurting any other business, but only wants to make millions of unattainable books within reach for general public. Despite the on growing controversies Google is pushing its project forward and adding new things to it every passing minute. Google Books enable its users to filter desired books by just one click. Matthew Gray, Grant Dasher, and Garrett Rooney, Google Books Software engineers wrote, “This will provide easier access to books and magazines by letting you slice and dice your results with certain characteristics.”
Google Books has been launched for those who have a strong desire for reading every kind of book available around the world. Google Books helps the reader refine his search and easily find the required book on the internet. Being the most controversial projects ever introduced by Google, the plan is to take hold of world’s majority of books under its own command. Google faced a lawsuit when it started searching for copyrighted, but out-of-print, books without the consent of the owners. Google is working very hard to revise its agreement so that it would be acceptable.
Source: www.codeweek.pk
