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Help the Linux OpenBook Project
The reason I wonder if this project (which I think is an excellent idea) will draw enough support is that it's facing stiff competition from commercial publishers. The market for Linux books is so hot right now that one New York literary agent I know, Lisa Swayne, is literally begging for Linux authors.
While much Linux software is free, books about it cost plenty. An awful lot of people, including me, have noticed this and are not happy about it. Writing is not that much different from coding. In many ways. the two tasks are different applications of the same talents, and the way writers and coders work is quite similar, especially the fact that people who are good (or want to get good) at either task often become so obsessed with their work that they give up almost everything else in their lives. Given this similarity, why should people who write about free software almost invariably get paid, while people who write free software are expected to "contribute to the community" without getting any money in return?
Personally, I believe it is the duty of any writer or editor who uses free software to donate his or her skills to the community, just as programmers who use free software often contribute bugfixes and patches even if they aren't heavily involved in kernel or applications development. We each can and should contribute in our own way.
But now Linux is going big-time, and publishers move in packs just as surely as Wall Street investors, so suddenly there's competition for anyone who can write competently about Linux. I believe this is going to lead to a lot of bad books, just as the explosion of science fiction's popularity in the 1970s led to the publication of many SF novels that never should have been printed.
I believe Open Source books have the potential to be better and more useful manuals than those written under commercial pressure. Editing is the writer's equivalent of debugging. Just as good programmers often spend more time debugging than actually writing code, good writers often spend more time editing their work than typing their first drafts.
If you are a programmer who can write, or a writer who understands programming, I urge you to donate at least a little of your precious time to either of the two Open Source writing projects mentioned above, or to one of the many other worthwhile ones that have sprung up elsewhere.
Sure, there's lots of pressure to spend every waking moment making money coding or writing, but doing the same work without deadline pressure, for love instead of money, at least a few hours every week, will not only make you feel better about yourself, but may also help you improve your skills in ways you cannot when you're cranking out copy or code against a commercial deadline.
Note: this story was posted briefly earlier, then pulled when we discovered that LinuxWorld's servers weren't responding. Now, at 1:13 EDT, LinuxWorld is back up, so the links all work. - ed
Second, I don't know that the open source model will translate to books. If every section is written by a different person, someone is going to have to spend a heck of a long time editting and rewriting, to even get to a semblance of a unified style.
And last but certainly not least, does it matter that people are getting paid? Even if the author doesn't get paid, the book is not going to be free. I don't know what the ratio is in tech books but in fiction the author gets about 3% of the selling price. I for one don't see that as a huge savings, and will continue to buy and recommend O'Reilley books, whether it's in the spirit of the community or not.
Using Microsoft software is like having unprotected sex.
Bite the hand.
It seems like a decent idea. its always better to get more people working on one thing, cause the vast amount of knowledge being shared equates to something that is of high quality, and something you can trust for referrence... i'm all for this.
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Has any Nick Petreley project ever been successful? Seriously. Just thinking about all his OS/2, Java, and Network Computer efforts that died. LinuxWorld doesn't seem to be doing too poorly at all, but I definitely would suggest partnering with other people given Nick's track record of failures. If I had to pick something to blame it on, it's that he seems to have no "vision" whatsoever other than to promote something counter to Microsoft. Ray Noorda can tell you how successful that strategy is.
Cheers,
ZicoKnows@hotmail.com
While I think this could be a good idea, I question the assertion that the people involved with Linux (coders, writers, et.al) should not get paid (if they can) for their work.
It's true that many of us write code for the fun of it, and I suspect that there are many writers (even technical ones) that also write because they enjoy it, and would do it whether they get paid or not.
However, as many before me have argued, we don't have to separate Open Source from economic gain. Many of our favorite Linux coders are getting paid for Linux coding, do we grudge them that merely because the rest of us are doing it for free (or nearly so)? It is frequently argued that support is the most meaningful economic model for Open Source projects, in that you can get the software gratis, and you get the support at some cost (either you take the time to learn to do it yourself, or you lob a little cash to someone who is able to teach you).
I think the idea of an 'Open Book' is pretty cool, and almost certainly do-able. And it would be interesting to see how it would turn out, especially if there were many contributors. But if an author can make money writing a Linux book, I would say go for that if you can, just as if they could make the money writing Linux code.
Nunc Tutus Exitus Computarus.
I'm sorry, but I spend a lot of money on good books on BSD and Unix-related topics (gave up awhile back on all the spotty books on Linux that are the trend these days). It's not worth my time to try to find my way through poorly written materials. And here's a hint: almost nobody writes well. Usually one or two authors on a subject. O'Reilly, Prentice-Hall, and a very few other publishers seem to have the knack for getting those writers on board. The idea of the programmers themselves writing good documentation is, well, ludicrous. Very few people are Renaissance-type generalists capable of great writing and great software design (Knuth comes through as one of the few exceptions, and he even wrote the software that typeset his magnum opus.) Guido didn't write the book on Python, and Larry Wall, well, er.. there are certainly better books on Perl than the ones the are marketed every time the Camel is tied to a perl reference anywhere. More and better documentation is needed. But it ain't gonna happen in a bazaar setting. By all means try to prove me wrong if you wish, though. Learning is a lifelong pursuit, and I may be wrong on this. I'm not counting on it though, and I buy a lot of books.
Dumb question?
/.'er can name 5 famous programmers, but can they name famous tech writers (without looking at your bookshelf)? Let's see, Peter Norton, and, umm, Xian Crumlish.
Maybe, but I think one of the reason there are lots of programmers writing Linux and Open Source software is that they hope for a little fame and peer recognition.
Just about any
Writing documentation never seems to get the respect that programming does. So why would someone want to write for free if they can't even get a fraction of the respect that Torvalds, Tridgell or Becker gets? Can you see some hot startup wooing a tech writer because of their clear, expository pose? Can you see a startup letting an Open Source tech writer get in on their IPO? Do you ever hear of tech writers cashing in and retiring at 30?
George
I think this technique has been tried before - by the dadaists. They called it "Exquisite Corpse." Dada is not dead, watch your overcoat. --Shoeboy
I would love to help out with this or any similar project, but I'm not sure how. I have good writing skills, and have been using Linux as a hobby for a couple of years, but I lack programming knowledge or any in-depth configuration skills. However, I would certainly be able to take the ruminations of a more technical person and parlay those into a form readable by regular folks. And, after everything I've downloaded over the years, I'd be happy to work for free. Is this a viable skill? Any suggestions?
In the linuxworld openbook newsgroup the answer is answered thusly:
In some ways, you are right, this is YALDE (Yet Another Linux Documentation Effort). But there are important differnces between this book and the LDP. A few of them are:
1. Focus. This will be a book, not an encylopedia of everything Linux.
2. Product. This will be a professionally crafted, edited, bound, and published work which will extend the information to virtually every corner of the globe by virtue of IDG's worldwide presence and translation partners.
3. The information in this book will be a natural for the LDP to include in their project rather than the other way around. We should have 'fresher' data.
I hope this answers at least some of your concerns.
See ya,
Joe Barr
I'm concerned there may be a lot of duplicated effort here. And from some of the other discussion in that newsgroup I think the issue of focus will be a tough one to resolve. I have a hard time picturing one book that will be "essential" both to Linux newbies and experienced sysadmins.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left Zulus
This might seem a inflammatory, beware.
One reason that new coders write Open Source code may be that they're trying to make a name for themselves, and are having trouble getting paid for coding. Can you imagine sending a 3 page codelet to Microsoft (or Sun, or RedHat) and hoping to get hired on that alone? I think you need a hell of a lot of qualifications to get paid for coding without any relevant paid experience.
Contrast that with writing. My team got a book contract on the basis of a 3 page Table of Contents, with little paid writing experience. It's cheap for a publishing company to throw a few thousand dollars at unknowns in hopes that 1 out of 10 books will be a good one.
George
simply because it's a cool idea, and because I love computer books! I still have 4000 pages of unread computer books an my shelf, so a couple more won't hurt at all! Like I doubt my writing capabilities, I probably won't help on this side! But test-reading those books sounds like fun! Alwasy wanted to know how a book actually grows up! so go ahead all write and publish me those books
From my limited experience, royalties for computer books start at about 10%, more if you have a track record or an aggressive agent.
George
"Do me this for free, I'll take credit to my superiors/stockholders, and all the related profits..."
Yeah, RIGHT!!
Same editors of all those Linux "bibles" and "for idiots" sh1t.
it is W. Richard Stevens. But since he is
a UNIX (not linux) writer, and he is very
kernel+performance read-all-geek
he does FUNDAMENTED critics to Linux.
But his books are really admired and
read by the hacking community.
His strategy would have worked, if they hadn't done so much to protect the NetWare cash cow. If they had jumped on UnixWare and made it like Linux is today (i.e. inexpensive & with some apps) they would have succeeded. Mark
Books is books is books. Why are there no open-source video/CD training materials? And not just dark home video presentations from a users group.... Why don't distro's have an autorun.inf for those who insert linux cd's on a windows computer? Brief intro to linux... Are you going to install linux on this computer? If so, why don't we just pop open Device Manager/winmsd? Print this out just in case we need it...
A writer can spend a lot of time on something, get it published, and still make hardly any money at all. As such, it's a bit daft to spend time working on something which *definitely* won't earn any money.
Better to spend your time working on something that *might* make money; then, if it doesn't get published, or if it's gone out of print, then the author can justify giving it away free.
Also, if an author's book fails to sell well enough, they may have a lot of trouble getting the next one published. This isn't an issue you hear about with programmers.
Basically, it's silly to expect writers and coders to work similarly, since the economics are drastically different.
I don't like it one bit!
Paper? Printed? Pashaw!
LDP. Get the LDP on a nicely integrated, professional looking website.
Thats where its at.
Will IDG "donate" their printing presses (contracted out facilities)? I don't think so.
r@m
I hope you meant that as a joke.
For those who don't know, the Exquisite Corpse was a game started by the early surrealists in which different people would compose different parts of the same work (such as a picture or a poem) with little to no knowledge of the content of the other components. The name is derived from a sentence which was composed in this fashion, sort of like the more recent MadLibs games.
I'm hoping that the comparison of open source writing to the Exquisite Corpse was a joke. I'd hate to think that the contributors would be that clueless regarding their collaborators' work.
Mossmann (what happened to my cookie?)
The book outline starts out with "What kind of server do you want" and goes from there. A book for "Essential Server Linux" is a fine idea, but I'd hate to see someone looking for something about Linux on the desktop (or embedded, or wearable, or whatever) pick this up.
Nothing against documentation, mind, but anyone calling a book "Essential Linux" and planning on it being only about servers is misguided.
How about a series? "Essential Server Linux", "Essential Desktop Linux", "Essential Wearable Linux", "Essential Toaster Linux", etc...
-- Alastair
After his e-mail to Mindcraft (as featured on their 'net rage' page...filled with vulgarities from Linux users) , I'm sure Mr. Barr will be an asset to the book.
Or perhaps this is a side-bet with Metcaffe about how foolish others can be.
Either way, the goals of this book can be reached by taking the existing documentation and editing it. The only stumbling block is the copyrights. So, to blow past the copyrights is to RE DO thework with a new copyright.
I'll sit this one out, thanks.
How do you interpret, "While not mandatory, you should offer a free copy of the modifications, whether in print or on CD-ROM, to the original author(s) and to IDGB."?
Does this mean that they don't have to make the text of the book available for download? The part of copyleft that really makes it work is that you have to give out source code on request. It sounds like they're trying an "almost-free" way to get people to write books for them. They profit and the writers get nada. Great deal!
I, for one, would not participate in this...
Hell, if you dont like the fact that people who write about software get paid you can: 1. Write about software. 2. Change the rules 3. Shut up. But dont change to a Communist model where we all reduce to the same level of poverty. If coders dont get paid and authors do, dont bitch about the authors, GET A PAYING JOB.
I am doing something similar or have been for a few months now at my website--NHF's Newbieized Help Files. Mostly targeted at newbies, but not neccessarily newbies to linux in general. For example, someone may have used linux for years, but never set up their own network in their home and they wanted to use ipchains. Then they would be a newbie to ipchains? Thats where NHF's come into play.
is IDG's Open Book Project simliar to mine?
Sensei
Sensei
Linuxnewbie.org home of the NHF's
Or: If your software is sufficiently useful, someone may pay you to fix the bugs, and to keep it up to date. If your book has bugs, or is outdated, people leave it in the shelf.
As someone who did some technical writing early in his career, I can state unequivically that not only do writers rarely get the same respect, they rarely get anywhere near the same pay.
The cake is a pie
Pay to fix bugs?? YOU IDIOT. OSS is *such* high quality that there ARE NO BUGS to fix. Therefore no pay. Welcome to the Republik!
Hey, thanks for proving his point. :)
I don't think an effort to create Open Source books, in the GPL sense of open source, about linux will ever work. Simply, the desire to scratch an itch doesn't exist as it does in programming.
:)
Take my example, I'm currently trying to find out information about using colors with GDK. There apparently is a black hole of information about the subject out there. There are many GTK+/GDK applications that use color, which implies there are many programmers that understand how it works. However, there is virtually no information on the subject in documentation any where.
So I thought to myself maybe after I figure it out I'll write something up. But, why should I? I'll do the work to figure it out (scratch my itch) in order to write a program I want/need. Afterwards I get to use that program (scratch my itch). However if I write up some documenation on the subject, I know it, very well quite likely. What benefit do I gain from the documentation afterwards? What itch does it scratch? I already know everything in the book, I'll never use it.
As far as I can see, the Open Source software movement hasn't been rewardless for those who participate in the coding of it. They get to use what they produce. Documentation on the other hand is a different beast. A good manager at a software firm will note that good documentation will save many headaches when you return to modify the code later. But even with that, you'll find his employees still don't want to do it.
Shot in the dark for a possible solution. Web based documentation. It should be geared to take advantage of the medium as we're trying to be progressive. And the people who maintain sections of the documentation receive percentages of the advertising revenue based on the amount, difficulty, and demand for their contribution, if the site ever breaks even. Sounds like something for Linux.com to try hosting. Hey, VA Linux you listening?
The only other option I can think of is using a QT style license for the documentation. Free is free is free is free, but if you sell it in any way you have to pay the author.
Ryan Warner
ryan_warner@fnmail.com
Also - for those who may think this is a money-making gimmick intended to exploit the "free work" of Linux authors (in spite of what I explained above), please note that the open content license allows anyone -- and that means anyone , from the LDP to competing publishers -- to republish the content. I have to say that when I first heard the proposal for this project, I was floored by the fact that IDG Books would use the open content license. I hope for their sake that they DO make a ton of money off this project -- it would lead to more like it, and that benefits everyone.
-Nicholas Petreley, LinuxWorld (sorry for using AC, but I tried to get slashdot to mail me my password and it just hangs)
I can just imagine LinuxWorld's reaction.
"400% load increase? What the hell... OH MY GOD, IT'S SLASHDOT. Everyone turn all the servers off, maybe they'll think nobobdy's home."
"We can't do that, Simon."
"Hell we can't. Now get off the floor, call VA and get me more systems. This isn't gonna be fun."
(:
Yahoo! Pipes are awesome. How awesome? http://pipes.yahoo.com/jesdynf/slashdot
I can't resist. I'm racking my brain thinking of reasons why writing as a collaborative effort will or won't work. I'm thinking about the boundry conditions. What is the best possible outcome and what is the worst? This came to mind ;)
I think Peter Norton was a writer before he was ran his company (Peter Norton Computing?) I learned assembly from his book, and also the basics of PC innards from "Inside the IBM PC"
Thanks to both of you for your replies. I'll pursue those avenues and contribute as best I can.
Fortissimo