Comment by james-redwood

3 years ago

This comment is from the perspective of a Calibre power-user, and someone who has been involved with the software for years now.

I must admit, I'm slightly shocked at some of the comments here. Kovid puts in an extraordinary amount of work (nearly 80 hours a week) into Calibre - of which most is for free, in the name of open source software. Anyone who has spent a decent amount of time on the mobileread forums will also know him as a remarkably intelligent, dedicated, and all-round fantastic guy. He's very patient and kind with beginners, responsive to feedback, and rarely loses his cool with anyone. His only 'crime' was being blunt with a bug report around eleven years ago, and I'm struggling to see why people are so myopic as to turn that into their entire perception of him. Add to the fact that he eventually fixed every bug in that thread as well as second-language difficulties that he likely experiences, and the vitriol that people have for him is undeserved.

The proof of the pudding is Calibre itself, which is a joy to use. It is hands down one of the most useful programs on my computer. It's rarely buggy, fast, logical to use, very feature-rich, and rather customisable. I'm perplexed as to whether some of the people in this thread and I are using the same software. It's very easy to set up, as all you do is either point to a pre-existing library of files or create a new one. Adding books is trivial, as is editing metadata, and the reader itself is splendid. That's really what most people need out of e-book software, but Calibre really does go above and beyond any e-book software on the market right now. The only close competitor is Foliate, which is not cross-platform like Calibre, and even then it simply lacks many useful features that I rely on with Calibre, despite having a much cleaner UI.

38 comments

james-redwood

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AdmiralAsshat  3 years ago

I'm not aware of what he said 11 years ago. I'm more familiar with the collective dog-pile he suffered in 2017 when he said he would personally maintain Python 2 after its EOL date to avoid having to update Calibre to Python 3.[0] The internet has never forgiven him for that moment of hubris, it seems. Calibre eventually migrated to Python 3 anyway with the help of other developers.

But yes, I frequent the MobileRead forums and by and large he's responsive and helpful.

[0]https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1714107

  • pmontra  3 years ago

    I have no idea of who Kovid is and has done but Calibre is a great piece of software. It does exactly what I need: import files into a directory and occasionally let me edit them (text and metadata.) I sync with Synchthing. I'm really happy it got full text search over all the library. I'll use that too.

    BTW, if we don't have to use software written by people we don't (or won't) like when we know everything they did or said, I bet we'd have to shutdown our phones and computers and never turn them on again.

kennend3  3 years ago

This!

I've used Calibre for a very long time now and when my kids finally got Kindles they started using it as well.

I couldn't care less what pointless debates others may have with Kovid. He is very helpful, very active in the forms, and constantly updates this software.

many opensource projects become abandonware, but Kovid continues to pour hours and hours into this.

Cross platform usage alone is impressive. it works the same on my Mac/Linux machines as it does on the kids Windows machines.

Maybe he has been "rude" at times, but who hasn't? let's not let a few instances of him losing his patience cast a shadow over the incredible work he has done for many people.

ladyanita22  3 years ago

Came here to say that I 100% agree, but Foliate doesn't compete with Calibre.

Foliate is a much better reader IMO, but Foliate cannot do everything Calibre can. Calibre, on the other hand, can do everything Foliate does.

Calibre is much more than just an eBook Reader. Foliate is a very good (the best for computers, maybe? I don't know how it pales agains Apple Books) eBook reader.

  • kemayo  3 years ago

    In my usage at least, Calibre is an eBook library-manager, editor, and conversion tool... which has a so-so eBook reader attached that I mostly forget about. :D

    It's pretty essential for getting things onto the devices that I actually use to read, though.

H12  3 years ago

Not to mention Kovid is also the developer of the excellent kitty terminal.

gaws  3 years ago

> The only close competitor is Foliate

Only as a reader. For everything else? Not at all.

slightwinder  3 years ago

> Kovid puts in an extraordinary amount of work

Extraordinary amount of work does not guarantee extraordinary quality or results, not even ordinary quality.

> Anyone who has spent a decent amount of time on the mobileread forums will also know him as a remarkably intelligent, dedicated, and all-round fantastic guy.

Reads like a working para social addiction. Anyway, whatever qualities one has, doesn't matter. One can be nice, and still fail at important things. Those things actually happen all the time and somehow people are always surprised and defending.

> The proof of the pudding is Calibre itself, which is a joy to use.

Opinions are very divided on this part. And as someone who had several hard problems over the decade, including multiple data loses, I'm very far from calling it a joy. It's useful, and if you know your way around the flaws it will also not a harsh experience, but a joy it was never for me.