Adobe has made Inside the Publishing Revolution - The Adobe Story available as a free e-book in the Digital Editions Sample Library.
From the description:
You will need the free Adobe Digital Editions application to read the book. If you don't have Adobe Digital Editions, you will be promoted to install when downloading the book.Tech journalist Pamela Pfiffner explores the rich history behind the modern publishing revolution, as seen through the lens of one of its most important players. In the past 20 years, Adobe Systems has become synonymous with great design tools, and the company's impact on how we work in publishing, graphic arts, and on the Web is unmatched. Join Pfiffner on a colorful journey from the roots of the desktop publishing revolution through the rise of the Web and interactive design. Along the way, you'll witness the birth and evolution of PostScript, the explosion of the Photoshop market, the realization of the paperless office, and other events that have shaped the way we communicate.
Inside the Publishing Revolution is not one of those dull historical tomes you know and loathe from high school. Pfiffner packs its pages with lively, insightful interviews with world-class designers and illustrators, as well as personal insights and recollections from John Warnock, Chuck Geschke, Jonathan Seybold, and other publishing luminaries. Richly illustrated and beautifully designed, the book features galleries of historically significant work by leading artists and rare photographs from the Adobe archives. For added perspective, Pfiffner walks you through an illustrated timeline of the publishing revolution. As with history, the final chapter of the Adobe story remains to be written, so the book ends with an eye toward the future: an exclusive overview of the company's vision of publishing in the next decade.
Hat tip to Professor Michael L. Kleper.
Discussion
By Michael "PDF boy" Jahn on Jul 30, 2008
So, if Adobe started this revolution, why on earth do are we required to install some odd duck application like Adobe Digital Editions to read about a file format - PDF - and how it became the darling of Publishing vertical ? Why not release this "free" e-Book as a PDF and be done with it ?
Besides - my research shows that there were roughly five times more Amazon Kindle titles available than Sony-compatible titles - if we are thinking revolutionary, they should release it .MOBI, .PRC, and AZW.
Not really having a standard e-Book format just shows that there still needs to be a revolution I guess.
By Dr Joe Webb on Jul 30, 2008
Yes, Mr. Jahn, a very good question. I'm in Linux nowadays, and can open and make PDFs quite easily. But the file format that was supposed to be independent of operating systems does not apply to this download, as its special software has no Linux version.
Did someone mention a revolution? I must have been mistaken.