Why does there seem to be such anti-Scribd sentiment here?
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.
I agree with what you wrote yesterday concerning weights and measures. "Leave people to use what they want to use."
Sharing documents online has been solved for quite a long time now. It's easy (If slimy) to create a walled garden and coerce people into using it, but it'd be nicer to just show them how to share documents online.
Seems like the issue with Scribd is that it enhances the user experience for average user, but for techies/early adopters, it makes for a far worse experience than the alternative.
For a stellar implementation, try clicking 'view' on a PDF attachment in Gmail.