dikini.net

This is a lame adapted translation of the Russian story I posted a couple of days ago. The author unfortunately is anonymous. If you could polish it, so it sounds better in English, please do. It's in the public domain, as far as I know.

A house somewhere in Britain, some time in the future
- Dad, can I get 99 quid off your card? Need to pay for a book
- What book?
- Shakespeare, Hamlet
- Why, we have it
- Really? Which file?
- What have files have to do with it! It's on the shelf. It's your nana's.
- Nah, that's a deadwood book
- So what? I read it when I was your age.
- Your age.... You can't search it, you don't have an index. How will I find quotes? No audio commentary, no animation. Just text. And you can't change the font. Everyone will be laughing at me in schoool. You read it.
- Ok, ok, get the this DVD, I baught it fifteen years ago.
- What? DVD? How can I read this antique? You better give it to the museum.
- If you are so smart, you could google for it and download it
- For free?
- Yes. Shakespeare is old, you should be able to find it for free somewhere.
- What are you on about! You could leech it, in your time, at the turn of the century. Not now. Don't you know that all about five years ago all book copyrights were transferred, for safekeeping, to the American Book Publishers Association. Do you want me to get nicked for life, like a Dimiry Skliarov sect memeber?
- But Shakespeare is not american! What those guys have to do with it?
- Who cares. Dad, any chance you are one of them anti-globalist guys?
- No, what are you talking about. It's just shamewasting a hunderd quid on a file. Can't you borrow it from one of your classmates. Somebody should have it. You can lend them one of yours later.
- Yeah, and how am I supposed to read that?
- How? Just read it on your gogles
- You need to keep pace with technology. You can read it only on the device you bought it from. And the polarisation code will be different anyway. Just give me the money. I'll buy a normal book.
- Ok, ok, this is your one time pin for 99 quid for my account. In my time this was big money.
- I got it. Thanks
- Come on, show it to me. Let us have a look. Hmm, I don't think this is Hamlet. What are these pics?
- Banners dad. Without them it costs £699.
- I can't see the text? Should I wait for these banners to go?
- Nah, you'll wait forever. Without the polarisation glasses you won't be able to read it. Without them you can see only the ads.
- Why?
- Why why! So that only the real customer can see it! No one else. Just think - if I buy a book, someone, paying nothing, will be able to read it over my shoulder.
- What if I put my glasses?
- You are joking! The file is tuned to my glasses only. The others have different codes.
- Ok, give me yours. I want have a look at the book.
- Have a look? You won't pass the iris recognition man. You'll see nothing but 'access denied'. Look, I don't have time. Just leave me to read this or I'll need to rent the file again. I'm reading.

later

- Alright. Finished.
- What? All of it? Hamlet? in half an hour?
- Yep. I would've done it earlier, but there were ads every five minutes or so
- I don't believe it. Who is Gertrude?
- Who?
- Aha. Whaat about Horatio? Claudius?
- How would I know. I was reading the Home Edition. Here it was just Hmalet wondering around talking to himself and the Ghost. For anything extra, I would need the Professional Edition. We don't have such money.