It's the same story when it comes to the EPUB's place within the wider digital publishing ecosystem. Previously seen as a limited primary format compared to other files such as PDF, increased support and infrastructure now makes the EPUB a lot more attractive in digital publishing workflows than in the past. Despite this situation, software continues to be focussed on conversion to EPUB from other formats rather than using the EPUB itself as the primary base for conversion into other formats.
Similarly to how writing code directly produces a better EPUB than software, customised use of open source software can invariably produce better results than expensive off-the-shelf software. At the moment, there's actually no software that converts EPUB directly into other formats to a professionally publishable standard in any case. This last download is fully interoperable and gives you a bit more information about the EPUB and its ecosystem.
