although basically hopeful of the company’s ‘rough cuts’ venture, i am
insulted by the fact that o’reilly’s safari service offers important
material
to its regular subscribers only if they pay extra for it. o’reilly’s
material
on ajax is a good example: all of the introductory coverage is available
only
as pricey ‘rough cuts’. as for the ‘opportunity’ which o’reilly offers
to its
customers to make contributions/corrections to its ‘rough cuts’, there
comes
to mind microsoft, the old ibm, and other studies in arrogance, who in
effect
charge people for the ‘opportunity’ to do their alpha/beta work.
thanks,
tom arnall
north spit, ca
On Mar 1, 2006, at 4:38 PM, tom arnall wrote:
there comes
to mind microsoft, the old ibm, and other studies in arrogance, who
in effect
charge people for the ‘opportunity’ to do their alpha/beta work.
Well, I think I’ll leap to their defense here (if for no other reason
than we do the same with our Beta Books).
We view it very much as a win-win situation. Yes, we get money
earlier than we otherwise would. But at the same time, a community
that is easger to get this information gets it many, many months
before the regular publishing cycle would. Yes, the readers help find
bugs in the books. But, atthe same time, the readers also get to
steer the book, telling the author what they want to see as the book
evolves. AWDwR was greatly influenced by early feedback, and I think
its a better book (and the vommunity has a better resource) because
of it.
I can’t speak to ORA’s pricing, but we don’t charge any extra for
early access.
Regards
Dave