Microsoft Joins Open Content Alliance

-- Library Journal, 11/01/2005

The newly created Open Content Alliance (OCA) developed by Yahoo and others now has Microsoft as a partner. Microsoft officials said MSN Book Search will cover the cost of digitizing the equivalent of 150,000 public domain books over the next year--about $5 million at the 10 cents per page estimated by the OCA. Yahoo is covering the cost of digitizing up to 20,000 books and according to its agreement, the University of California has committed to contributing "1.5 million pages" of digitized content. How this would work as a business venture, however, remains unclear. Microsoft officials, like other OCA partners, instead call it a "test product" and a "strategic bet." Also unclear is how useful and cost-effective an online collection of old public domain books might be to users who aren't researchers.

It is clear, however, that book publishers, outraged by Google's aggressive plans, have made a major stride in re-asserting control over their books in the digital realm. In a statement, Microsoft, which has been no corporate shrinking violet in the past, sounded notably cautious in saying its project would "clearly respect all copyrights." That's part of why MSN Book Search, at least as announced, is much more modest in its aspirations than Google's scan plan.