Like most of its projects, Google has lost interest in Google Books and has not bothered to maintain it, much less continue developing it. This has been going for more than a decade now. NGram search for example stopped adding new texts to the index in 2008.
Google fought and won a court case to put 25 million more orphan books which it had already scanned, out of print and largely unavailable, into Google Books. But decided it wouldn't bother. Because out of print books cannot be monetized, it would seem an
Pointing out that Google does not need to monetize everything given its enormous revenue stream and wealth is hardly an "ad hominem" attack.
Decent companies do pro bono work all the time (I am working on such a project for my employer right now) using some part of their revenue to subsidize it. Making the vast body of literature available to the public would be a pro bono project that is literally in keeping with the goal Google set for itself (making the world's knowledge accessible).
Google Books Has Been Deteriorating For Years (Score:5, Interesting)
Like most of its projects, Google has lost interest in Google Books and has not bothered to maintain it, much less continue developing it. This has been going for more than a decade now. NGram search for example stopped adding new texts to the index in 2008.
Google fought and won a court case to put 25 million more orphan books which it had already scanned, out of print and largely unavailable, into Google Books. But decided it wouldn't bother. Because out of print books cannot be monetized, it would seem an
Ostrich leather ad hominem (Score:2)
People who spend money merely because it is sitting around rarely have $100 in cash on hand (much less $100 billion).
Ostrich leather ad hominem: attack not on the man, but the man's bulging pocketbook.
Re: (Score:2)
Pointing out that Google does not need to monetize everything given its enormous revenue stream and wealth is hardly an "ad hominem" attack.
Decent companies do pro bono work all the time (I am working on such a project for my employer right now) using some part of their revenue to subsidize it. Making the vast body of literature available to the public would be a pro bono project that is literally in keeping with the goal Google set for itself (making the world's knowledge accessible).
Re:Ostrich leather ad hominem (Score:2)
Decent companies do pro bono work all the time (I am working on such a project for my employer right now)
Your employer considers posting to /. discussions to be pro-bono work? How enlightened! Mine thinks it's time wasting.