This French Consortium Will Kick Google's Butt

Ok, maybe not really, but it seems to think it can do better than Google at book scanning, at least when it comes to French books. It will be up to those of you who can read French to judge.

You may have heard by now that France’s President Sarkozy has made it a national priority–backed by 750 million euro–to digitize France’s books. According to an AP story, the ever-not-evil Google offered to help, but negotiations have been slow due to anxiety about giving Google too much control of France’s cultural heritage.

Enter Polinum, a French consortium that unveiled itself yesterday, saying it could do a better job than Google at scanning France’s books.