Open Source Book a Collective Effort

Hairy1 writes "The New Zealand Open Source Society has begun a project to write a book to put the case for open source use in business and government. There is a need for a book which clearly puts the case for using open source, and provides a clear migration plan. Already five authors and several reviewers have stepped forward to commit time to writing the book. However, other authors and reviewers would be welcome to join the project."

Comments

This should go further

[amigaluvr]

The best option would be to make this not just a book, but an ebook. preferebly only an ebook

but not the typical ebook. we should have an open source reader which can be used to create books that are more compatible in content. Use this as a starting point to 'ram the message home'

Imagine the possibilities. A new large book promoting open source with all reasoning to do so, and have it distributed in an open format so as to demonstrate as well as just preach the positives.

That is my wish for this project.

Re:This should go further

[Coke in a Can]

"but not the typical ebook. we should have an open source reader which can be used to create books that are more compatible in content. Use this as a starting point to 'ram the message home'"

We already have two. They're called ASCII and HTML.

Re:This should go further

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

I don't know about others, but I am partial to printed books. And in this situation, I would think it would be advantageous to have a hard copy. Imagine this exchange:

Me: "Hey, I would like it if you could take a look at this book and see if you think it makes a good case for using open source applications in-house."

PHB: "Sure, just leave the book with me and I'll have a look."

Me: "Well, um, it's only available as an ebook, but the reader is free."

PHB: "So I have to install something on my computer? It doesn't have a virus in it, does it? "

Me: "Well, no, but I can just print it out if that would be easier. It's only 500 pages...."

In the end, I'd rather just spend $30 to pick up a copy of the book and let him read it. Besides, I don't mind spending money on books that support and advocate open source products - even if I never directly contribute to the project(s) involved, I have provided a small amount of monetary incentive for the authors (and publishers) to provide more books and/or resources for the open source community. It's worth it, IMHO.

A more difficult task....

[monadicIO]

..... is going to be to get all those CEO/CFO/CTO types to actually read something like this.

Re:A more difficult task....

[mpthompson]

Nowadays CEOs/CFOs/CTOs are only interested in outsourcing to other companies, that in turn use close source software to keep "trade secrets" proprietary, so they can charge an arm and a leg for it.

Not entirely true. What you say may apply to large corporations, but I can tell you that there are 10,000's of technical managers at medium to small organizations who are looking for solutions that #1 work, and #2 are cost effective to implement and support. A book that builds a solid business case for open source software can go a long ways to helping technical managers introduce open source software technology into these organizations.

At my start-up company we use open source software extensively and I credit that decision as one of the reasons we can be considered one of the dot-com survivors rather than roadkill. For us, open source software allows a small team of engineers and IT staff to be in tight control over the software that delivers our services. We have access to every line of source code that runs our systems from the initial boot sequence to complex database operations. In the past I worked on projects that were at the mercy of Microsoft and Sun to deliver bug-free software technology in a timely manner. When you are small you don't have the respect or clout to get these companies to be responsive and your ability to fix things yourself are extremely limited. For instance, I went through a nail biting experience of being 2 weeks from shipping a major software product that was heavily dependent on major bugs in the MS and Sun Java VM being fixed before stability and uptime requirements of the product could be proven. In the end we had to punt and ship the product anyway hoping that it was good enough to meet customer requirements. Since mandating open source software at my new company such experiences are a thing of the past because if necessary we can roll up or sleeves and fix thing ourself. In practice this rarely happens, but it let's me sleep a liitle better at night.

I don't want to sound like a troll but

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't want to sound like a troll or feed them but, wouldn't it be better if there was one single author for this? A book like this would need to capsure the feeling of readers therefore a collective attempt will sound more "scientific" and boring.

A paper or collecion of papers or a large recruition network sounds better as a collective work, but for a single book I believe a single author would do better, solid work

Re:I don't want to sound like a troll but

[Lu Xun]

With enough eyes, all stylistic errors are transparent.

good on ya Kiwis

[aoteoroa]

Open source could really use better marketing.

On the topic of desktop software was CRM (customer relations management) intentially left off the list or just overlooked. Time management is probably the second biggest killer app for businesses next to spreadsheets. Some open source alternatives are available like compier

Nothing personal but (insert insult here)

[Pharmboy]

Many of you are making it sound as if it is a software project. Everyone puts in how it should work and then majority rules. Sadly, that is how it may turn out.

What open source needs is MARKETING. It is no longer whether or not its better or not, its the fact that not enough decision makers understand what OSS really is. We often focus too much on factual representation, and not enough on presentation.

Put it in whatever format the market dictates, write it to be easy to read by the persons you want to read it. Give examples that apply to their situation. This means that people that are already OSS advocates will probably not like the book, which is fine. The goal, it appears, is NOT to reaffirm what hackers think, its to expose decision makers to an alternative to proprietary systems where licensing can change with every necessary update.

If you and I love it, then its probably not written very well for its intended market.

Re:Nothing personal but (insert insult here)

[plierhead]

I live in New Zealand, love open source and in particular would welcome the idea that my tax $$ don't get thrown down the gaping jaws of MS. But I hardly think a book is the way to "communicate with the decision makers - such as politicians, heads of departments, CIO's and CEO's.".

As anyone who has ever sold anything to government (or anyone) knows, such people do not read books (well, certainly not a book like this). They would hardly even be likely to read a brochure.

The thing that persuades these people is other people. "OK, the Microsoft salesman just left. What a great guy !! He says that their stuff will save us a fortune and he's got real case studies to prove it. So now, send in the open source salesman. Whats that ? They don't even have a salesman ? Are these guys serious ?"

IT procurement decisions in government in New Zealand are made exactly the same as in any other government (and many companies) in the world. Typically all that the buyer is looking for is a way to tick off the task with as little risk as possible to his job. Who cares if he can save $M using open source - after all, its not like he'll see any of it in his pay check. The safest course is just to use whatever the Victorian state government, or the state of Minnesota used. Even if that costs $M. And even if the open source alternative is free. All he's looking for is, in IBM's jargon, a "meets expectations".

The only exception to this is when a individualist champion emerges inside government as has happened inother countries. No such individual has stood up in New Zealand, where sadly, the individuals charged with IT policy resemble all too closely the country's majority population - sheep.

I can see why these guys are steamed about writing this book, and more power to them. But at best, its use will be in fleshing in some of the details as to "how" - perhaps for consumption by a few low level managers - once someone else has already taken the brave decisions. It will not influence any of the key people.

Re:This should go further PAST your OSS NOSE

[King of the World]

The intended audience don't read ebooks, they read paper books. Print quality is a must.

ASCII doesn't have formatting. The only people who would suggest ASCII are programmers who don't understand their audience.

HTML doesn't look good in print (yes yes, there's print CSS, but the spec allows too many variances to for print-quality rendering)

Arguing about output formats is missing the point. You don't write a book in HTML or ASCII. You write it in Docbook or LyX and then from this high-level format you have produce many lower-level formats such as HTML or ASCII or VoiceXML or XHTML 2 or E-book/PDF (via XSL-FO). Ask them what format they want it in and produce it on the fly for all I care - it's no hassle.