Microsoft Wins Ebook Innovation Award

Posted on December 13, 2000

Mibrary, a digital library software company, has announced that Microsoft Corporation is the winner of the Inaugural Alan Kay Award for ebook Innovation. The award recognizes the largest contributor to the advancement and popularization of electronic books in the past year.

The award will be presented to Microsoft Corporation prior to the keynote address at BookTech West 2000 in San Francisco on Monday, December 11th. The winner will receive the Pillar Crystal created by noted Steuben designer David Dowler. In addition, Mibrary will make a $5,000 contribution on behalf of Microsoft to the Association of American Publishers' ``Get Caught Reading'' program.

The winner was selected by popular vote from members of the electronic book industry and user community. The final nominees included Stephen King, Gemstar and Microsoft Corporation.

``Each of the three nominees have contributed immensely to popularizing the ebook and proving that it is a viable route for the publishing industry, and Microsoft has certainly made tremendous strides in this area,'' said James Alexander, chief executive officer of Mibrary. ``We're pleased to present Microsoft Corporation with the Alan Kay Award for ebook Innovation.''

``Microsoft takes great honor in receiving this award; it underscores the innovative nature of our ebooks product line, including Microsoft Reader with ClearType, and Microsoft Digital Asset Server,'' said Steve Stone, General Manager of Microsoft's ebooks Business Unit. ``It's especially gratifying to see our technologies and industry efforts recognized by our peers and partners, who have been essential in creating excitement for this new industry.''