On 30/09/2011 09:50, Chris Buechler wrote:
On Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 3:24 AM, David Brown<da...@westcontrol.com> wrote:
Hi,
Is it possible to buy a copy of the pfSense book as a pdf file, with the
money going directly to the pfSense project (or the book's authors)? That
would be more convenient for me for reference, faster delivery (it will take
a couple of weeks to get the paper book to Norway), more environmentally
friendly, more up-to-date (assuming the book is being updated for 2.0), and
gives the money to the people who did the pfSense work.
By contract, we don't have that option for the current edition. There
is a Kindle version available. I expect we will for the next edition
though (ETA unknown but it'll be available electronically in parts for
purchase of some kind before it's completely finished and in print).
For various reasons (which would be way off-topic here), Kindle is not
an option for me.
I can understand that there are reasons for different models for books,
with different types of contracts, different people wanting to get paid
(you, as authors, can get money for a directly purchased pdf file - but
there are probably editors, marketers and other people whose income is
more connected to printed versions).
I would certainly be happy to pay for an electronic version of the book
- but it must be in a free and open format. Typically that means a
normal pdf file - it is important that it can be easily read and
searched on a variety of platforms without needing specific software.
Of course, that makes it more difficult to make sure people are honest,
and pay for the book (you guys need to eat too - coffee and pizza cost
real money!). One solution that I have seen on a different project is
that when you buy a pdf book, it is watermarked with the purchaser's
name and/or company. This makes it easy for the purchaser to use the
book themselves, but they will be very unlikely to spread it around to
others.
Searching for dead-tree format pfSense books, I can see three books.
"PFSense: The Definitive Guide" (Jim Pingle, Christopher Buechler, 2009),
"PFSense" (Lambert Surhone, Mariam Tennoe, Susan Henssonow, 2010), and
"PfSense 2 Cookbook" (Matt Williamson, 2011). I gather that "The Definitive
Guide" is /the/ book,
That's correct.
but are the other two recommended?
I wouldn't bother. The 2010 one I'm not even sure what it is, looks
like some weird compilation of what is probably freely available info
(i.e. take doc.pfsense.org and some other random open source docs and
put it in print). The Packt book was written based on the alpha
version and I could write a short book just of the errata of what all
is wrong in it, plus the promised royalty money to the project from it
is nowhere to be seen.
OK - thanks for that advice. I'll just order your book.
_______________________________________________
List mailing list
List@lists.pfsense.org
http://lists.pfsense.org/mailman/listinfo/list
