Tbers, MICROSOFT JOINS YAHOO BOOK PROJECT Microsoft has said it will participate in a recently announced book-scanning project led by Yahoo and the Internet Archive. Unlike Google's much-maligned project, the Yahoo initiative, called the Open Content Alliance, will only scan books that are in the public domain or for which explicit permission has been granted by the copyright holder. In contrast, Google will scan copyrighted books unless copyright holders specifically request that their books be excluded, though only small portions of copyrighted books will be available online. For its part, Microsoft will finance the scanning of about 150,000 books, while Yahoo will pay for about 18,000 books to be digitized. The Open Content Alliance also differs from Google's project in that all of the content from the alliance will be available from a database to any search engine; Google will be the only means to access the content of its project. Microsoft will create an MSN Book Search service next year, though the business model for particular services and fees has not been set, according to Danielle Tiedt, general manager of search content acquisition at MSN. ZDNet, 25 October 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5913711.html Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 email: [log in to unmask] phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3081 IM: oneontatltc "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"