Help the Linux OpenBook Project 54
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
Possibly a good idea... (Score:1)
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.
Word (Score:1)
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Have FreeBSD questions?
A thought or two (Score:3)
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.
Who is the Linus of tech writers? (Score:2)
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
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:3)
The HOWTOs are a good first step but aimed at the user that is a bit more familiar with linux already than someone who might buy a book about unix. I'd suggest something along the lines of what Sun has done with Java. They have the Java API index of everything which is much like the linux HOWTOs: Lots of info, but you have to have some idea what you are looking for/at before it makes any sense. Then they have the Java Tutorial that starts with the basics and dumbs stuff down enough that anybody capable of programming in Java should be able to start there. Its worked for me in Java. I don't feel that I need more references.
How about a linux tutorial that tells the user what they can do, and links to HOWTOs and new material to help somebody accomplish what they want?
What's a non-programmer to do? (Score:1)
LDP? (Score:1)
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.
Why coders code Open Source and writers get paid (Score:1)
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
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:1)
I'm not sure that the bazaar model would translate at all well to a Linux 'installation and getting started' book. To take one example, how much swap space is needed? Everyone has their own opinions on this; any 'collaborative' book could not be decisive. It might be like 'design by comittee'.
The point is, most books need an author with an opinion. Even though expert users may not always agree with the author's opinion, it's needed to pull things together and keep the book focussed.
One way this could be made to work is similar to how many successful free software projects work - make it modular. If the book is split into twenty chapters, with at most two people working on each chapter, then you wouldn't have people stepping on each others' toes. You'd also need a single editor who has the final say on what goes in and what goes out, with maybe a couple of sub-editors who check and revise things before sending them upwards.
tech author royalties (Score:1)
George
Another company abusing su (Score:1)
"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.
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:1)
I didn't read Roblimo's comment that way. He wrote: "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."
I agree that a lot of the HOWTOs, man pages etc out there now are pretty close to incomprehensible to non-programmers like me. But I think it's true that programmers and writers have similar work ethics. (I've done writing/editing for quite a few years myself.)
I also agree that it's unlikely the end result of this product will be a "cheap" book. Presumably the full contents will also be posted for free on the Web (would be interesting if IDG sells banner ads to those pages, though) but as I said in another comment, don't we already have the LDP?
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:1)
1) You can't read electronic docs to install something. Install docs need to be in paper form.
2) Web docs alone may be useless. My modem didn't work. So no internet connection. So I missed a lot of the documentation out there.
3) Some people like reading paper more than computers.
-cpd
Stevens (Score:1)
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.
No sir, (Score:1)
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.
Re:Word (Score:1)
you're a sick bastard. i love it.
Wrong title. (omits "Server") (Score:3)
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...
Re:LDP? (Score:1)
I agree. Was the LDP ever an Encylopedia of Linux? As I recall it had regular books. I for one would like to see the LDP revived. It seems pretty dead to me. I am trying to network a couple PC's and looked at the Network book, it hasn't been updated in a LONG time.
While I have nothing against this project, I would encourage people to contribute to the LDP(or GNOME's docs) if they want to do some writting for comunity.
--
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:2)
Is this even "open"? (Score:2)
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...
uh...this is kinda what im doing at my site (Score:1)
is IDG's Open Book Project simliar to mine?
Sensei
Re:Even better idea - videos/cd's (Score:1)
Re:Word (Score:1)
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Have FreeBSD questions?
No respect? No pay either! (Score:1)
Re:What's a non-programmer to do? (Score:1)
Open Source Writers Group [thepuffingroup.com]
Open Source books probably need a different model (Score:1)
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
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:1)
I doubt that we will get many sections of chapters, let alone whole chapters, written by a single individual. It will be the voice of many people, some contributing just a sentence or a paragraph or a comment or a criticism or a correction.
Nick and I will do the preliminary editing, and we've had offers of assistance with that part of it too, but for style and uniformity and the like all will be shipped to IDG Book and gone over by their professional copy editors before it gets posted on the web site.
Everyone who contributes will get something. It may only be an autographed copy of the book, or it might be a check for $500, but everyone will get something back in addition to the opportunity to do something for the community.
See ya,
Joe Barr
aka WaRtHaWg
Re:Perhaps Mr. Barr will contribute. (Score:1)
In my interview with Stallman a week or so ago at the Expo, he said that if a programmer came to him and volunteered his time to write free software, if Richard found out that he could also write documentation, he would beg him for documentation.
There is definitely a need. This idea could help meet that need. Of course, if it is restricted to people like yourself who have never made a mistake, it might take a little longer.
I'm glad it gives the posers something to sneer at, but probably everyone would be better off if they got off their butts and did something for someone else now and then.
See ya,
Joe Barr
aka WaRtHaWg
Re:What's a non-programmer to do? (Score:1)
FSF and others are begging for documentation. If you can write, you can help.
See ya,
Joe Barr
aka WaRtHaWg
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:1)
Pulled indeed. (Score:2)
"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."
(:
Re:Possibly a good idea... (Score:1)
ve been told that 90 days afterwards, the book will be available in printed form.
It will be available on the web in HTML format all during the development cycle. Nicholas and I will do rough edits, selection, rejection, folding, merging etc on the front lines. Then the text will be sent to IDG Books for their editing. Then we will work with the author(s) to resolve any issues raised by IDG Books. Then the text (be it a section or chapter or paragraph or modification of same) will be put up on the web site. Feedback received from folks reading the text will be incorporated in the same fashion.
I'm not sure what additional formats we will have online beyond HTML, but suggestions are welcome.
See ya,
Joe Barr
aka WaRtHaWg
Tandem story (Score:1)
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 ;)
Thanks...... (Score:1)
Fortissimo