NEW YORK - May 25, 1999 - In a step that will accelerate availability of electronic book content, the Open eBook Authoring Group yesterday announced the completion of a draft recommendation of the Open eBook 1.0 Specification, which defines the format that content takes when it is converted from print to electronic form.

After seven months of work, the Open eBook Authoring Group, which consists of publishers, eBook pioneers and other software and hardware firms, completed work on the standard, basing it on the same HTML and XML specifications that define the World Wide Web.

A single formatting standard will accelerate the availability of electronic content by allowing publishers to convert their content to a single universal format that will work on all devices that are compliant with the Open eBook standard. Consumers will enjoy greater breadth of electronic content offerings, and more time can be spent reading, rather than worrying about compatibility and formatting.

"The members of the Open eBook initiative are to be congratulated on their willingness to work together to develop and promote this important new standard for their young and emerging industry," said Dr. Victor McCrary, technical manager of Information Storage and Integrated Systems at the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Led by McCrary, NIST was instrumental in providing guidance and encouragement to the various members of the authoring group in their efforts to agree on a common standard.

"Common standards are essential to support this emerging industry, and the XML approach is key, aligning Open eBook with other emerging standards and positioning it to support increasing functionality, interoperability and extensibility," said Allen Renear, director of the Brown University-affiliated Scholarly Technology Group and a key contributor to the draft specification. "And I am pleased that Open eBook has made a solid commitment to supporting internationalization and accessibility."

The Open eBook initiative was proposed in October 1998 by Microsoft Vice President Dick Brass during his keynote speech introducing the world's first electronic book conference. The conference, held in Gaithersburg, Md., was sponsored by the NIST.

"The goal of the Open eBook standard has always been to ensure that there is a free flow of electronic books from a large number of publishers to millions of consumers," Brass said. "It was also designed to prevent a damaging standards war in which each device would be incompatible and publishers would produce few titles for each."

"I'm delighted that the Open eBook Authoring Group has worked together to finalize the standard so quickly, and that firms like NuvoMedia and SoftBook Press have been willing to overcome competitive pressures and work together for the common good of the industry and of consumers," continued Brass, who is vice president for Emerging Technology at Microsoft.

The Open eBook standard is designed to allow content providers - publishers and authors of books, articles and Web pages - to deliver their material in a single format. This format will then be accepted by all systems compliant with Open eBook. A title can be read on all machines adhering to the standard, and publishers will be able to reach a wide audience without separately reformatting their titles for each machine. The standard is also designed to allow existing eBook devices to quickly accommodate it.

"As one of the original contributors, NuvoMedia is clearly committed to the success of the Open eBook standard and is excited about what this standard will mean moving forward for the electronic book industry," said Martin Eberhard, co-founder and CEO of NuvoMedia Inc.

"As pioneers in the emerging eBook field, we are excited about the Open eBook standard," said James Sachs, chairman and CEO of SoftBook Press Inc. "This standard benefits publishers and eBook pioneers alike. Most importantly, it will benefit consumers, who won't have the burden of picking among competing technologies."

In addition to releasing the recommendation for a final specification, the Open eBook Authoring Group proposed a process for final approval of the standard:

• Members of the larger Open eBook group will have several weeks to provide comments on the specification.
• The Authoring Group will then accept or reject pertinent feedback while further refining the standard.
• Finally, the Authoring Group will present the revised final draft for approval to the Open eBook members. A vote to approve the final standard is scheduled to take place by July 1999.

The Open eBook Authoring Group consists of Open eBook members who have met regularly to draft the standard. The group is chaired by NIST's McCrary and includes Horace Dediu (BCL Computers Inc.); Steve DeRose and Allen Renear (Brown University); George Kerscher (DAISY Consortium); Jon Noring and Ben Trafford (Exemplary Technologies Inc.); Gene Golovchinsky (FX Palo Alto Laboratory Inc.); Len Kawell (Glassbook Inc.); Garret Wilson (GlobalMentor); Don Ledford (Librius.com Inc.); Jeff Alger, Jerry Dunietz and Kate Hughes (Microsoft); David Ornstein and Dhiren Patel (NuvoMedia); Steve Potash (OverDrive Systems Inc.); Markku Hakkinen (The Productivity Works Inc.); Mike Riley (RR Donnelley & Sons Co.); Steve Kotrch (Simon & Schuster Inc.); Garth Conboy and Brady Duga (SoftBook Press); and David Goldstein (Versaware Technologies Inc.).

The next eBook conference is scheduled to be held at NIST, Sept. 21-22, 1999.

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Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, press only:
Victor McCrary, NIST, (301) 975-4321, victor.mccrary@nist.gov

Quotes From Members of the Open eBook Authoring Group

"BCL is prepared to help transition publishers to the new Open eBook 1.0 standard with a new eBook authoring environment for PDF source manuscripts. Publishers and booksellers will now be able to leverage their intellectual property inventory by re-publishing existing and out-of-print titles as eBooks. The new technology will redefine the economics of the book business, and publishers stand to gain a great deal."
Horace Dediu
General Manager
BCL Computers

"The Open eBook specification has been developed to include well-known standards. We're very happy to see that this draft makes great headway in enabling electronic books for the disabled and the international market, as well as the everyday consumer."
Ben Trafford
General Manager
Exemplary Technologies

"We believe that the Open eBook standards effort will have long-term impact by enabling a new generation of analytic reading appliances that improve the work of knowledge professionals. This standard will let knowledge workers share a range of digital documents throughout the enterprise."
Gene Golovchinsky
Senior Research Scientist
FX Palo Alto Laboratory Inc., a Fuji Xerox Company

"All Version 1 Glassbook software products will support the Open eBook format, enabling our customers to distribute and view HTML-formatted e-books. At Glassbook, all of our products are based on open standards because we believe that open standards are the key to making electronic books a huge new industry. We look forward to working with the Open eBook Working Group on future steps to standardize digital rights management and distribution, pieces of the electronic book puzzle required by consumers and booksellers for truly interoperable electronic books."
Len Kawell
Co-Founder and President
Glassbook Inc.

"We expect electronic books to play a key role in the globalization of modern education. GlobalMentor is pleased to be involved with the evolution of technology such as the Open eBook specification, which will facilitate cost-effective access to information internationally. We anticipate assisting such advancements to ensure that the ability to secure a world-class education can be independent of location, wealth, and language."
Garret Wilson
President
GlobalMentor

"With the release of the Open eBook Standard, a huge barrier has been removed for publishers seeking to leverage their content into the eBook marketplace. OverDrive BookWorks tools will develop Open eBook titles for distribution to millions of potential customers for reading on PCs, SoftBooks and other eBook readers that are based upon this new standard."
Steve Potash
President
OverDrive Systems

"The incorporation of accessibility features into the proposed standard is an important element that will ensure that electronic books will be available to the broadest population. Effective visual and audio access to electronic book content benefits not only those with print and learning disabilities, but also mobile readers, those learning a second language, and those in hands-busy and eyes-busy environments."
Ray Ingram
Executive Vice President
The Productivity Works