bookworm_

It can handle files that big no problem. Use the -n switch to supress page numbering.

But with a 200MB file, chances are you will only want to view part of it. Unless you have superhuman reading powers. ;)

Dissect the part you want with some filter (sed, awk, tail, whatever) and feed the result to less.

Should be a format that can be grep'd, made into PostScript, DejaVu, etc. Versatile. ASCII works well for that. Open, non-proprietary format.

Not only that, working with raw text is so much faster than anything else. less(1) is the most responsive "ebook reader" I've ever used. It never chokes on huge files. less -n

Ever try reading 100 or more PDF's in one sitting?

But with 100 ASCII docs, it's possible to skim them fast using less, or mine some text with some UNIX utility.

I like what this judge said. Digitizing books not just about putting the book on a "paper-like" screen with beautiful fonts, it's about enabling new utility. Working with the text.

Who cares about unsophisticated investors who buy at the IPO or employees, or long-term stability? This company was a short term deal like many others in the web startup space. Hype worked. Virtual goods? It makes me laugh everytine I say it. Pincus and other investors made heaps of cash from this, no doubt. Mission accomplished. Call it sa success. Time to close up shop and on to the next one.

Facebook is much the same way. Some people have made fortunes. Who cares about public investors, Wall Street and employees? They'll survive.

It's just business.

Firefox is a monster. Too big. I switched to Webkit and midori (but there are certainly other small, simple WebKit-based alternatives).

So no to Gecko.

If I'm going to use Webkit, I'd rather use something simple, like midori. Standard issue on the Raspberry Pi.

Chrome complexity? Browser controlled by commercial entity that sells web ad space? No thanks.

"text mining"

Hmmm. It's not so easy to do this with ebooks viewed in a graphical ebook reader. Note he didn't say "text search". He said mining.

Does this suggest noncommercial library books will offer research capabilities that commercial ebooks will not?

I want my ebooks in ASCII format. And that certainly goes for textbooks.

less(1) is my "ebook reader".