Genii Weblog
Is planned obsolescence part of the problem?
Mon 13 Dec 2010, 01:16 PM
Tweetby Ben Langhinrichs
RT @blanghinrichs: http://bit.ly/iiSP0o - comparison with MS is unfair, they release products once in 3 yrs, so the book has a shelf life !
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What has been said:
928.1. Jason (13/12/2010 18:45)
Aren't printed books out of date almost immediately?
I'd like to see the xPages book published electronically as a beta (like the Pragmattic Programmers do), and then as ongoing releases.
DRM is bad for the customer, and passing around free copies of the book is bad for authors not sure how you square that circle. I don't think DRM stops copying but I think making things reasonably priced (e.g. piled high and sold cheap) and DRM free is an incentive to buy.
928.2. Ben Langhinrichs (12/13/2010 07:32 PM)
@Jason - I agree that eBooks are the way to go for most technical books. They can be updated more quickly. The price issue is a bit trickier, since there is a lot of work that goes into a Programming Bible or whatever. Perhaps if the books were on smaller, more digestible parts at lower prices, the reasonable price would encourage actually buying rather than using DRM. Either that, or going through Amazon's Kindle bookstore, which would allow use on the Kindle, but also on iPads, PCs and whatever. It is worth thinking about.
928.3. Brian Benz (12/13/2010 08:49 PM)
Speaking for myself, I'd love to update the book. I really enjoyed the process, but to say it wasn't really worth it would be a massive understatement :).
There are several things I would change if I were to do it again, including self publishing and electronic publishing. I'm not sure why technical books would be "published" any other way these days.