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Project Gutenberg's 32nd Birthday

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the read-franklin's-autobiography dept.

David Moynihan writes "July 4th marks the 32nd anniversary of that day in 1971 when Michael Hart first sped an all-caps version of the Declaration of Independence to anyone and everyone then on what later became the web, thus founding Project Gutenberg. Thanks to an army of volunteers and the Distributed Proofreaders, this is the last year PG will have fewer than 10,000 titles. Strangely, Microsoft picked this dual anniversary of literacy and freedom to re-launch their Reader product, with three free bestsellers a week, if you activate the new version with Passport, sign a EULA, etc. Real reason for the upgrade might be that the DRM on MS's old Reader was cracked. If you're not into giving away data, or are running a system other than Windows, maybe you could take the time to tell a friend about free books online, or even help out by visiting the Distributed Proofers and editing one page per day."

15 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Must...avoid...Steve...Gutenberg...joke... by mikeophile · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seriously, awesome work people.

  2. You can't be serious by ryants · · Score: 5, Funny
    even help out by visiting the Distributed Proofers and editing one page per day.
    You can't seriously be asking Slashdotters to volunteer as proofreaders.
    --

    Ryan T. Sammartino
    "Ancora imparo"

    1. Re:You can't be serious by BabyDave · · Score: 4, Funny

      Could be worse - they could be asking the Slashdot editors!

    2. Re:You can't be serious by thinkninja · · Score: 4, Funny
      It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
      -1 Redundant
      --
      "The number of Unix installations has grown to ten, with more expected." (Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd ed.; june 1972)
    3. Re:You can't be serious by claudius0425 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey yo, some us /. homies aint got no grammer problems.

      --
      Phus. Sysiphus.
    4. Re:You can't be serious by MadCow42 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, it wouldn't be THAT bad, we'd just have 5 different versions of each book, each released about a day apart.

      MadCow.

      --
      I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
    5. Re:You can't be serious by JDWTopGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

      How about a project to translate the books to 1337 speak?

      20,000 1346u35 und3r 7h3 534
      h4x0r3d by Ju135 V3rn

      7h3y w4s 0wn3d by 7h3 c4p74!n

      Or even worse, the Bible in 1337: (7h3 n3w h4x0r v3r510n?)

      7h0u 5h417 n0t k!11, d00d.

      --
      Ron Paul 2012
  3. All caps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    They had AOL back then?

  4. doh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Download Error

    You'll need to install and activate the current version of Microsoft Reader before you can download these Owner-Exclusive titles.

    Click here to get started now.

    No Linux version!? Gah.

  5. founding fathers by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...first sped an all-caps version of the Declaration of Independence to anyone and everyone then on what later became the web

    I knew it! This country was founded by COBOLers.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:founding fathers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      ADD 1 TO POST-POINTS.
      MOVE "Funny" TO POST-STATUS.

      (That's Cobol, for those who don't know)

  6. Oh, who reads books anymore anyway? by Faust7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I absorb all information directly through a USB link from my laptop to my head. Pretty nice, except for the typographical migraines. I always have ibuprofen in hand when visiting Slashdot.

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
  7. it's all lost and stoof by shadowbearer · · Score: 3, Funny

    I like what happens when you run across a title which isn't on the site.

    Example: "It's not there, eh? -- Canadian"

    Heh.

    SB

    --
    It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  8. Ah, that explains the "Midi-Sum and Nite Dream" by Pac · · Score: 3, Funny

    It probably accounts for Achilles shouting "First Greek" when he lands at Troy's beach and all those descriptions of statues of a girl suspiciously similar to a modern actress in Roman poems. And I was really sure Tom Sawyer's pet was not a penguin.

  9. Re:XML please by gotem · · Score: 2, Funny

    I dare you to try and find any other data format that was commonly used 32 years ago that you can still read with current equipment.

    punchcards.. what? you mean you don't have your punchcard read connected?