[FM Discuss] release early release often

[adam hyde]

hi,

I was pondering distribution and FM after receiving the FSF version of
the Command Line book...below are some thoughts on the issue of free content..

"Release early Release often" is a mantra straight out of the Free
Software movement. The idea is to get the software out there as soon as
possible, get it used, get feedback, and get to work on the next
release.

It goes against the grain of traditional software development
cycles...traditional, as in proprietary. Thats not to say that this
philosophy exists only within the free software realm, but its certainly
more common there than anywhere else...

FLOSS Manuals has tied this idea to the production cycle of 'books' (I
prefer the term 'comprehensive texts' as it communicates the idea that
the material we develop is output in multiple media formats of which
books is just one channel, but the term is a bit of a mouthful). So we
can effectively release material, update it the same day, release it, update
it again, release it...

There are a few questions that have been thrown at me about this. The
first is the speculative query about the audiences expectation of
(specifically) books. "If I buy a book from FLOSS Manuals" the question
continues - " what happens if there is an update?".

The speculative expectation being, that people that buy books don't want
one that is out of date. However, strangely when I reply that actually
if they want a new updated version, then they should buy the book again
- they seem to understand this and are not worried by the proposal at
all. It makes sense to them.

I find this very curious.

In my opinion there is more concern and worry generated by the prospect
of breaking the established way of doing things, than generated by
actually participating in the new way of doing things. When I explain
that they have to buy the book again they are encountering a new
reality, and they seem ok with it.

I experienced this a little myself this week with the release of the
Free Software Foundations version of the Introduction to the Command
Line. 

At first, when the FSF wanted to release the book we had a discussion
about covers for the book. I wanted something that looked like the
current FM books and Peter Brown wanted something that looked like the
current FSF books. I was worried that any material that is associated FM
should look the way we want it, and any deviation would effect the
perception our look and feel which we had spent a long time working on.
I was taking a very typical 'marketing position' - protection of our
'brand' - and I felt uneasy about the situation. 

At the end the FSF just made their own cover.

Today when I received the FSF version of the book in the mail I felt
nothing but elation and excitement - we are actually taking the
ideologies of free content through its logical path. The stress I
experienced before when discussing the issue was the residue of
discarding old methods, but now, when I held the book in my hands, I
felt a very visceral sense of participating in something new -
something that just made sense.

Interestingly, several months before this I remember talking to Anne
Gentle and Janet Swisher about the FLOSS Manuals book sales in lulu.com. We
discussed how anyone could put a cover on a FLOSS Manuals book and sell
it. How could we ensure someone else didn't simply make more sales that
us for the same FM content? Its an interesting question and I think we
all felt uneasy about the possibility.

If we were to have the same discussion now I think I would advocate that
we find these people and encourage them to do what they are doing. 

A few months before this I was also talking with Laurent from Sesawe.
We had just finished the How to Bypass Internet Censorship book and
Laurent wanted to combine documentation about proprietary software in
the book. This was an interesting situation as I subscribe to both the
ideals of circumventing censorship and free software. Here the
ideals collided since many good softwares for circumventing censorship
are proprietary. However the idea of being involved with proprietary
software leaves me cold, but more importantly FM, being what it is,
would never release a book where proprietary software was documented.
Instead FM released the book with only free software documented and
Sesawe released a supplement.

At the time Laurent wanted Sesawe to release a book with both but I was
holding forth on the idea that FM should not in any way be associated
with proprietary software.  However, free content, being what it is,
should not be constrained like this. If I was to have this conversation
again I would encourage Sesawe to release their own book with whatever
content they like in it and FM would release the free software only
version.

The more FM collaborates with other organisations and the more I work
with the sales of books, the more I realise that we have to
progressively unshackle ourselves from the 'old' way of doing things.
We work with free (libre) content, and we need to encourage its uptake,
reuse, and distribution as much as possible. Its only by doing this
that we will fully grasp the consequences of our ideology, and its
only by grasping these consequences will we really understand what it
is we are doing.

This is not just an ideological position - its also very practical. I
think FLOSS Manuals needs to evolve a sustainable model within the
frame of free content. To do this we need to follow the logical path of
free content as far as we possibly can, as it is only then that we can
find a model that is truly sustainable. Otherwise we will be trying to
live in a world where everything has changed but us.

For this reason I think if anyone wants to reuse, republish, distribute
FM content - for profit or otherwise - in any form they want -
beautiful or otherwise - and remixed with other content - about things
we agree with or otherwise - we simply say yes and see what happens.

Any thoughts?...

adam




-- 
Adam Hyde
Founder FLOSS Manuals
German mobile : + 49 15 2230 54563
Email : adam at flossmanuals.net
irc: irc.freenode.net #flossmanuals

"Free manuals for free software"
http://www.flossmanuals.net/about