Teleread has a blog entry titled “Death of Microsoft Live: Don’t be so quick to rejoice, Brewster”. The entry opens with this line, “Brewster Kahle at the Internet Archive rejoices that Microsoft is killing Live Book Search and the related book digitization activities.”
I read the article that Teleread linked to about Kahle and I would not say he was rejoicing about Microsoft dropping Live Book Search. What he does say about Micorosoft is very positive. (In my view) While Microsoft is taking its cash with it, the company is leaving in place all the equipment that it paid for and is releasing all scans of public domain works for any use, not just education and research. According to Kahle, Microsoft has done more than it is contractually obligated to do as it ramps down its involvement with OCA.
Brewster’s actual thoughts
Hi, Bibliofuture. Thanks for the link. So people can judge for themselves what I mentioned in TeleRead, here’s part of what Ars reported:
“In a way, Kahle sees the retreat of the corporations from OCA as a necessary step, perhaps even a good one. He’s a firm believer in the idea that corporations should not be the entities we trust to provide access to important cultural data stores. If people think that corporations are the right way to access the history of human discourse, Kahle says they’re in for ‘a series of very rude shocks.’ (The University of Michiagn, which has thrown in its lot with Google, does not agree.)”
Hey, interpretations of comments like Brewster’s are subjective. As I see it, however, he’s rejoicing for the long term. That said, you’re 100 percent right to note that Brewster was grateful for Microsoft’s help while it lasted; and I’ve mentioned that in an addendum.
Let’s hope that the financial issues of long-term archiving and preservation can be worked out!
Thanks,
David