October 18, 2006 8:15 AM PDT
Microsoft to catch up on its reading
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Kirtas Technologies, a maker of high-speed scanners and digitization software, signed a deal Tuesday with Microsoft to scan works for its
The Cornell University Library also signed on Tuesday with Microsoft as a partner, agreeing to let its collection be scanned. The project, when complete, will make public domain works, as well as copyrighted material from publishers who opt-in, freely available through Microsoft's online Web application.
The works scanned by Kirtas will become available via Windows Live Book Search starting in early 2007. Cornell librarians will have a hand in choosing which versions of books to scan and overseeing quality control of the digitization process, according to Cornell.
The program is a direct competitor to
Google, however, has taken the opposite approach to Microsoft, requiring publishers to opt-out if they do not want their copyrighted works to be scanned. The method has resulted in
Google has argued that Google Book Search does not allow full access to copyrighted works, as it does with public domain works--many of which are available as
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I just hope Cornell uses a universal, OPEN format that future readers of any type can successfully convert to human-readable text.
/P