> From: Tony Gravagno ... > just like Linux, SQL Server, PHP, Java, C#, Excel, and hundreds > of other technical topics
> From: Symeon Breen > If you look at the other technologies you mention- the > actual providers of these technologies are leaders in > also providing books.... the providers are the best > suited to producing such literature, and in my opinion > should be taking the lead in this... My respected colleague, I must disagree. My extemporaneous sampling above mentions three Microsoft products and three non-Microsoft products about which Microsoft Press (I believe) does not have any publications. Many books are indeed published by Microsoft Press but take a look at your local store bookshelves and you'll find dozens of other publishers including Wrox, Apress, Manning, McGraw-Hill, IDG, O'Reilly, SAMS, and Addison-Wesley. "Books" are not uniquely sourced by product providers, and they shouldn't be. Who is the "provider" charged with writing books for open source software? We need books specifically because software authors are generally poor writers, and software providers generally don't invest in quality documentation. Put it back in their hands because they are "best suited"? The world would be a terrible place if software companies "figured out" that they could provide poor documentation and then make even more money as the unique source of for-fee books that explain their products. I also disagree that the DBMS software providers specifically are the best suited to producing product literature. I want "documentation" from my software vendors, but then I want them to continue working on the software, not books. The process for creating books is different than for product docs, and you'll get commentary about products from an independent author that you won't get from the software provider. One of the reasons why I said initially that this community is "anti-book" is that I've heard the same sort of commentary from other MV colleagues, that the DBMS vendors should be providing books, where you rarely get this sort of comment about any other product. Look at your local bookstore shelves and see how many books are written by the software provider - precious few. No, pushing the publication of books onto the DBMS providers simply goes nowhere. Don't bother. It's been tried before. DBMS vendors don't want to write books and they simply don't. They won't even accept help for their docs - both Clif and I have offered to help the DBMS vendors with their docs and after giving the concept some lip service these initiatives never go anywhere. Even if one indignantly maintains that they still "should" write books, it's a moot point - they won't. So we need to pick up from there and move forward. Best, T _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
