Um, no? Knowledgable editors make any sort of writing easier to read and use -- especially crucial if you're talking about textbook-style material, which is specifically about someone with subject matter knowledge communicating with people who don't (yet) have that knowledge. They also serve as a useful backstop of fact-checking and just plain "does this make sense?" checking.

Worse, I've read a great deal of math books that were unedited. Arguments end up in the wrong orders, sections are missing, notation changes without notification or regard for readability, numbering fails to match up (not even LaTeX can help if you change your labels midway), figues go missing, indices are wrong, exercises are mislabeled (or accidentally impossible!).

Even with an editorial team there's often a hefty and vital errata for most major textbooks. It's just a lot of organization.

I don't think editors are going anywhere for a long time. The role they serve is crucial. I do totally agree that they don't need to be tied to publishing-as-a-process though.

Other online books have had technical editing done by the readers.

Tablets are great, but as long as they still have LCD (backlit etc.) screens they can't even be considered an alternative for anyone who actually does any serious reading. You can also pick up an ebook reader where I'm from for about 1/5th the price of even the most basic tablet.

If anything I think ebook readers are going to become even more popular. As e-ink or similar technology is refined and becomes even cheaper to produce I can easily imagine them becoming almost like disposable "throw-away" devices.

Also, in my opinion, your initial logic is incorrect. You talk as if "full-featured web-browsers like on the PC" is the "end-goal" for future reading devices. Well, we have always had that -on PC's- and they were the problem, not the solution. The e-ink display is the "solution" to the eye strain (among other things) that come with reading on a backlit display. So to suggest that is the goal seems to be as if we are going backwards.

I would say that e-ink will stay around for reading, but there are critical differences between linear reading and textbook use. As far as textbooks are concerned, I would say that e-ink is a non-starter. The refresh rate is poor, navigation other than linear page-to-page progression through a single text is poor, annotation is poor, interactivity is non-existent, etc.

It's not a bad or doomed technology, it just isn't the right tool for this particular job.

I own an iPad and a kindle and use the kindle far, far more often because of its non-backlit screen. This argument has absolutely nothing to do with resolution, it's just far easier to read an eink screen for long periods of time.

E-book readers also have a sub-$100 price point. And e-ink includes readability in direct sunlight, high resolution, and eternal life for batteries.

Multimedia adds very little to your average Kindle book, but videos and interactive content add huge value to a textbook. Once you add the fact that a student can accomplish coursework and quickly make schools paperless, I think it's a huge value add.

About five years ago I got a good editor and realized how miserable my output was without one. This person took my stuff and made it focused, consistent and fun to read.