OSoft is now selling XML in a Nutshell, 3rd edition in ThoutReader format. I played around with this a little. There's the seed of a good idea here, but only a seed. The implementation is faulty. Both the web site and the client software make a number of basic GUI bloopers. More seriously, it's vastly too difficult to purchase and install content, even the free content (though at least it doesn't insist on having a credit card before it will let you have the free stuff like iTunes does). Finally the client isn't integrated enough with the server. You can't browse and install content directly into the client like you can buy songs in iTunes. Instead you have to purchase and download the new books, then install them manually. This should be no more than a two-click operation.
Microsoft has posted the second beta of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP. This release fixes bugs and improves CSS handling. One hopes XML, XHTML, and XSLT are supported as well, though I don't have a Windows system handy to test with at the moment.
