On Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:11:10 -0400, Walter Bright
<[email protected]> wrote:
I think it would be a good move to make a kindle ebook out of the
specification on the web site. Not only will it be convenient for those
who wish to peruse the spec using a kindle, it will be helpful for
marketing etc.
The difficulty is that if I put the ebook up on Amazon for free, people
tend to equate free with "crap". It needs to have a price on it to be
taken seriously.
This notion is outdated. There are multiple free ebooks available on
iBook (the iPad/iPhone book store) and some of them are classics.
The thing is, the vast majority of people are not going to discover D via
Amazon, read the ebook spec, then go play with D by downloading the
compiler. The most likely scenario is:
1. Discovering D via word of mouth, or looking for alternatives to other
languages that have design flaws (like C++!)
2. Playing with the compiler, building programs, reading the online docs.
3. Wishing there was an ebook form of the documentation, and seeing one
exists via some link on the home page, or asking on the newsgroups.
At this point, do you really think that such a coder cares whether the
ebook is free? IMO making it *NOT* free is likely to turn off that coder
from D, since they likely are already familiar with the site, and they
will instantly know the ebook is just an automated reprint of the web site.
But if I put a price on it, people will be demotivated to continue
contributing to it, because they'll perceive someone else profiting from
their work.
This is not a big concern for me. I'd be more worried about D's
reputation being sullied by trying to make a profit out of obviously
freely available information.
My biggest concern with publishing a non-free book based on the web site
is that the *website changes with every release*!
Who wants to pay $5 every time the compiler is released just so you can
have an ebook-style copy of the web data?
Is it difficult to make an ebook for kindle? If it's automated, would the
automation be available as open source code? If so, why wouldn't people
just make their own ebook for kindle?
Technically, you could not stop someone else from doing this, since the
license is Boost, so what would you do if someone created a free version
with *exactly the same information* to compete with your non-free one?
My recommendation -- release it for free. There are zero reasons to
charge money for it.
-Steve
