Friday, July 4, 2003
Are You Able to Read Microsoft's Free eBooks on Your Pocket PC?
Posted by Crystal Eitle in "THOUGHT" @ 06:00 PM
Yesterday I wrote a post about a summer promotion by Microsoft Reader where they're giving away three eBooks a week for the next twenty weeks both to publicize eBooks and to entice Pocket PC users to upgrade to the newest version of Reader (which has enhanced DRM protections). However, judging by responses to the thread, it looks like people are having difficulty getting the books onto their Pocket PC and opening them.
For eBooks to be successful, they have to be perceived as simple and enjoyable to use. It looks like Microsoft is doing its darndest to bollix that up. Additionally, it appears that users of PPC 2K devices may have a hard time installing the newest version of Reader; it requires a full installation, which takes up 2 MB of precious RAM. And what if you can't delete the previous version of Reader because it's in your machine's ROM? It would seem you have no recourse. This promotion seems to have been created only with users of Windows Mobile 2003 in mind; it may serve to bring new Pocket PC users to eBooks, but what about those of us with older devices (some of which aren't so old)?
After installing the latest version of Reader on my Pocket PC, I was able to open the free eBooks. I did, however, have to activate it again. As a 1910 owner, the ROM/RAM issue was moot; I already had Reader in my device's RAM, so I just had to uninstall it and uninstall the new version. I'm curious to know how many Pocket PC Thoughts readers were able to take advantage of Microsoft's offer.
For eBooks to be successful, they have to be perceived as simple and enjoyable to use. It looks like Microsoft is doing its darndest to bollix that up. Additionally, it appears that users of PPC 2K devices may have a hard time installing the newest version of Reader; it requires a full installation, which takes up 2 MB of precious RAM. And what if you can't delete the previous version of Reader because it's in your machine's ROM? It would seem you have no recourse. This promotion seems to have been created only with users of Windows Mobile 2003 in mind; it may serve to bring new Pocket PC users to eBooks, but what about those of us with older devices (some of which aren't so old)?
After installing the latest version of Reader on my Pocket PC, I was able to open the free eBooks. I did, however, have to activate it again. As a 1910 owner, the ROM/RAM issue was moot; I already had Reader in my device's RAM, so I just had to uninstall it and uninstall the new version. I'm curious to know how many Pocket PC Thoughts readers were able to take advantage of Microsoft's offer.
