On top of the “classical” formats — TXT (text), DOC (Microsoft Word), HTML (HyperText Markup Language), XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and PDF (Portable Document Format) — other formats were the Glassbook Reader, the Peanut Reader, the Rocket eBook Reader (for the Rocket eBook), the Franklin Reader (for the eBookMan), the Cytale software (for the Cybook 1st generation), the Gemstar eBook Reader (for the Gemstar eBook) and the Palm Reader (for the Palm Pilot). Some formats were meant for a given device, either a PDA or an ebook reader, and couldn’t be used on other devices.
# Open eBook (OeB)
The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) in the U.S. launched the Open eBook Initiative in June 1998, with a 25-people task force named Open eBook Authoring Group. In September 1999 was released the first version of the Open eBook (OeB) format, based on XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and defined by the Open eBook Publication Structure (OeBPS), with a free version belonging to public domain and a full version to be used with or without DRM by the publishing industry.
The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) was created in January 2000 as an industrial consortium (with 85 participants in 2002) to develop the OeB format and OeBPS specifications. Since 2000, most ebook formats have derived from the OeB format, for example LIT from Microsoft and PRC format from Mobipocket.
# LIT from Microsoft
Microsoft launched its own PDA, the Pocket PC, in April 2000, with the Microsoft Reader, for people to read books in LIT (from "literature") format, a format based on the OeB format. The Microsoft Reader was also available for computers in August 2000, and then for any Windows platform, including for the new Tablets PC launched in November 2002.
Microsoft was billing publishers and distributors for the use of its DRM technology through the Microsoft Digital Asset Server (DAS), with a commission on each sale. Microsoft partnered with Barnes & Noble.com in January 2000 and Amazon.com in August 2000, for them to offer ebooks for the Microsoft Reader in their eBookStores soon to be launched. Barnes & Noble.com opened its eBookStore in August 2000, followed by Amazon in November 2000.
Pocket PC’s first OS, Windows CE, was replaced in October 2001 by Pocket PC 2002 to handle the reading of copyrighted books. In 2002, people could read books on three software: Microsoft Reader of course, Mobipocket Reader and Palm Reader, the software of the Palm Pilot, launched in March 1996 as the first PDA of the market.
# PRC from Mobipocket
Mobipocket was founded in March 2000 in Paris, France, by Thierry
Brethes and Nathalie Ting, as a company specializing in ebooks for
PDAs, with part of the funding coming from Viventures, a branch of the
French multinational Vivendi.