He has taken to the web again, just as I said he would! (See PressPoints archives, Volume 1 -- Issue 1, READERS n' WRITERS) After pulling the plug on his first attempted serialized novel, "The Plant", I predicted that we would see Mr. Steven King on-line again. However, I hadn't thought that he would be back so soon. Not letting any grass grow from under his feet, he is back again with "The Dreamcatcher", which is predicted to be another bestseller for "The E-King". Even though Time.com has published three exerts of his new novel on-line, (you will have to buy the rest of the book) I still call him a "gutsy guy".

The bookselling industry has projected that the e-books market will be 10-percent of the entire publishing market by the year 2004. Although e-publishing is projected to grow into a major force, authors and publishers alike have been concerned about piracy and securities issues and are still waiting for standard technologies to emerge. And without much fanfare, Microsoft has forged headlong into this field, preceding King by a hair, attempting to capture a leading spot in the content-protection business, a role that is fostering closer relationships between the software giant and author's of intellectual content, music and software. The last several months have seen most of the major music labels release, almost exclusively, songs in Microsoft's Windows Media format, which has built-in copy protection, or DRM (digital rights management) technology.

What Microsoft has done is as close to anything I've seen. But some sources say they're making it as easy to buy content, music and software, as it is to steal it. The quest for secure downloads is still a long way from completion, however; that's the fundamental flaw in any DRM technology, many analysts say. With hopes of becoming the standard infrastructure for protecting intellectual properties against hijackers who copy and distribute web content, is a controversial subject, one that Microsoft intends to rectify by betting heavily on its technology to extend its reach deep into the digital entertainment world. Because Microsoft is betting on the advantage that has served it so well many times before, its product is in the operating system, it has taken the industries lead. That alone gives them the ability and the credibility to secure intellectual property within the bowels of the computer. Microsoft has been slowly building up strength to become the viable solution to provide software that will protect the intellectual creator's rights all over the world.

But make no mistake about it -- it's clearly a hard sell! The public wants and expects free. intellectual property on the Internet and many Net Surfers see the concept of putting a technological lock on that property as an insult. Except for our preview content, we, at 4Points Press, have made every effort to use the latest software systems to protect that content. Our next step is to commit the balance of that content to PDF format compatible for the Microsoft Publisher and Reader. So authors, come on out and play. Get on-line and click onto our submission page.

Our last two issues featured the poems of Viet Nam War Veteran, j. mowatt. Here is his last submission:

About the Author:
John Mowatt was drafted into the Army in February of 1970. By December of 1971, he was in Vietnam as a sargent in charge of two squads of men on Dusters (twin 40s AWSP) and Quad 50 Machine Gun Trucks. His tour in the Army lasted one year ten months and eleven days. But like most Vietnam Vets, his tour in Vietnam never truly ended. His writings reflect his every day feelings of that experience; they stay with him as his constant companion. The vehicles that allow him to deal with those feelings are his poems.

Veteran's Day

Where were you America when I was deep in some stinking jungle

Were you protesting in the streets

Where were you America when I was bleeding in the mud

Were you burning draft cards at City Hall

Where were you America when I came home to Dover in a silver box

Were you shouting slogans against the war

Where will you be America, this Veterans day

At the Wall or at the Malls

Where will you be America

Quad 50 11/97
(j. mowatt)

EDITOR'S NOTE:
We are constantly tracking the breaking news offered in the industry for content copyright protection. It is important to all of us.