Heads Up, eBook Authors & Owners! Microsoft IE Potential Problem

Hi, all

I received this heads-up from the designer/programmer who makes an ebook compiler program I use called Dead Easy ebook Maker. (If you're ever interested in a fantastic ebook program, this is IT! But enough. This is not a sales pitch.)

Here's the email I received today. This may affect you!

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Microsoft lost a law suit to Eolas Technologies, and it is due to affect everyone this month. Many, many websites. and probably many ebooks as well.
(They actually lost the suit in 2004, initially.)

Eolas basically holds the patent on how things like flash, mp3, and media player movies, etc. are embedded in ALL browsers. Yep, no kidding.

(To read more details on that, search the combination:

microsoft+lawsuit+flash+embedded

on google. about 267,000 pages)

Because of the suit, Microsoft will be changing the IE browser this month (they call it an "activeX upgrade") - and millions of web sites that use Flash, movies, etc. will NOT function for customers as they once did.

Everyone will be forced to upgrade their web browser. Basically - things like flash will play, but Not automatically, and the 'controls' won't work, and 'interaction' won't work, till the controls are 'activated'.

BUT, This will NOT just affect web pages.
Most of the ebooks out there are heavily dependant on the IE browser modules - they are basically just special IE web browsers. Their 'pages' are actually HTML - web pages.

Remember what the 'SP2 Update' did to thousands and thousands of ebooks? This promises to be worse.

If the ebook is dependant on IE being on your PC,
and on how it is setup, then...you may have a big
problem - especially if the ebook has flash or mov, etc. "embedded" (that means there is 'code' in the HTML to start/display the flash, mov, etc.)

Plus... a lot of 'software' out there, is actually just the combination of flash, inside a web page, which is inside an 'HTML' based ebook. Those may fail as well.

We won't know how bad all this may be till Microsoft forces the upgrade that turns all the embedding 'off', but I suspect it may be WORSE than the SP2 thing.

Time will tell. :-)

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Okay, here's the deal. IF you have written an ebook based on Internet Explorer, this is a heads up. IF you are an affiliate for any ebooks based on Internet Explorer, contact the person who wrote the ebook and ask them if this will affect the way the book works or its ability to function overall.

That's it. Have a great evening. Go spend time with someone you love!