When the Library of Congress published a free edition of Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress, Ralph Eubanks, former Director of Publishing at the Library, noted in his introduction Most important, this free, electronic book fulfills Thomas Jefferson’s belief in universal education. “…Enlighten the people generally,” he urged, “and tyranny and →
Last Friday, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick ended a two-month controversy by repealing the 6.25% “tech tax” levied on all computer and software services as part of a transportation bill passed in July. Software companies across the state challenged the tax the moment it passed into law, claiming it inhibited their ability to compete with firms →
In Massachusetts, the controversial “Tech Tax” is still being debated. This past July, a transportation bill was passed that included a measure for adding a 6.25% tax on software and computer services in the state of Massachusetts. The highest such tax in the nation, the tech tax drew opposition from business owners across the state →
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has gained the support of state lawmakers in promising to repeal the newly-passed software services tax. Included in a transportation bill that was passed earlier this summer, the new law extends a 6.25% sales tax – the highest in the nation – to software and computer services, including website design and →
On July 31, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a bill that established a sales tax of 6.25% on all software services offered in the state. Among the few states in the U.S. that have taxable computer services, the Massachusetts tax is by far the highest – New Mexico’s tax is 5.125%, Hawaii and South Dakota →
After 20+ years in the same building, OBS is relocating to a new office! We are very excited about our new space in beautiful downtown Rockport. And while moving isn’t exactly a breeze – especially when you’ve got decades of publishing and internet history to sort through – we made things a little easier on →
As OBS packs up and starts to move our offices across town to premises recently vacated by Rockport Music, we’re making great strides towards paperlessness. Manuscripts, contracts, bank statements, resumes – tens of thousands of sheets of paper! In the process of reading, packing, scanning, and discarding comes time for contemplation. The recent media fuss →
A recent partnership between ePublishing software company Impelsys and DataLore, Inc. turns digital publishing on its head. (…What else is new?) The two companies have partnered in order to offer customized, branded ebookstores to schools and universities across the Caribbean. But instead of customizing its software solutions to publishers – Impelsys’ epublishing platform iPublishCentral offers →
In light of all the flurry of activity these days around the (re)selling of intangible digits, we might be wise to re-think the focus of our predominant, copy-based business model. In an economy of scarcity with tangible artifacts like hardcovers, if I give you my book, my hands become empty. Alternatively, in an economy of →
These days, with the ubiquity of mobile devices, it seems like we are living inside a kind of Memex. First envisioned by technology pioneer Vannevar Bush after World War II, a Memex is “a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications and which is mechanized so that it may be →