CHM reader on dash?

[qaplus]

I bought a MicroOLAP CHM eBook Reader a while back to use on ppc. It's fantastic. However they don't have a version for smartphone. Is there a good chm reader available for dash? The only thing I found is this one: http://www.smartphone.net/software_detail.asp?id=1663

But it hasn't been updated for long time. And the author didn't reply my inquiry.

[cmcgrail]

I'm afraid I can't recommend any program for ebooks I was curious as to what a .chm file was so I popped it into wiki and came across this:

"In 2002, Microsoft announced some security risks associated with the .CHM format, as well as some security bulletins and patches.[1] They have since announced their intentions not to develop the .CHM format further, and will be moving to a new generation of Windows Help called Microsoft Assistance Markup Language in the Windows Vista operating system."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help

Could be why it has not been updated in a long time.

[qaplus]

thanks for the reply. Too bad that MS gives up on chm, even their latest Visual Studio 2008 is still using the format for help files....

[beartard]

That's the biggest problem with eBooks in general. Each manufacturer creates its own, proprietary format to store the book data. This usually comes with some form of DRM so that only that company's supported readers can view the content. Software writers can't easily make reader software without being given the nod from that company.

Until there is a truly open format for eBooks, the market isn't really going to take off and there won't be readily available readers for them ubiquitous among device platforms.

[Billyvnilly]

on a side note, I googled 'convert .chm smartphone', and came up with a few hits... especially http://forum.isilo.com/showthread.php?p=10968 (converts CHM to PDB = Isilo)

[beartard]

and iSilo is yet another proprietary format that you have to find a player that works (and they're all ugly) and pay for it.

[qaplus]

I just found Alreader 2.5 can display chm files. It's not as good as dedicated chm reader like MicroOLAP CHM eBook Reader, but at least now I can read it.

I used Alreader 2.5 to read html files. It's a nice surprise that it can handle chm too!

As for book format, personally I think they should just publish in html. Most likely no other ebook formats can be as popular as html.

[beartard]

Plain text, rich text, and xml are also up there.