Microsoft unveils e-book software

BANGALORE, September 2: Microsoft wants to make text on a computer

screen as legible as a printed page. At the Seybold publishing conference

in San Francisco, the software giant unveiled the Microsoft Reader, a new

PC software application that the company claims improves the quality of

on-screen text to make it easier to read.

This application makes type on a computer screen three times sharper

than currently possible and is designed for reading books and articles on

personal computers and laptops. Reader is to be shipped in the first

quarter of next year and may be given away free.

Microsoft Reader is the first product to include the company's

ClearType font-rendering technology. Developed by Microsoft Research,

ClearType enhances font resolution on liquid crystal or flat-panel

displays to deliver a paper-like presentation, the company claims. In

addition, Microsoft includes a copy-protection system that allows

publishers to distribute titles with protection from piracy and illegal

copying.

Microsoft Reader is scheduled to be available for Windows operating

system-based PCs and laptops early next year. The technology reduces the

tendency of words to become bolder as they grow in size. ClearType is

expected to help drive the emerging e-book market.

Microsoft’s Vice President of Technology Development said, "One

way to give the market the best opportunity is to create a huge readership

by enabling people who own PCs and laptops to read electronically."

E-books download script from the Internet and display it on portable

computers. The e-book market is still in its infancy. "Only about

10000 devices have sold, and Microsoft hopes to boost that to hundreds of

thousands or millions," said Mr. Brass.