[FM Discuss] release early release often

[chris hofmann]

Seems like there area several things rolled up in this great analysis

-Questions about updates

-Questions about what the FM brand means.

-Questions about how they are connected.

On the issue of updates I'd say that FM is a huge breakthrough that will 
allow printed material to actually stay in sync with the software.  No 
more books arriving 6 month after the release of a major new version of 
the software.  No more piles of outdated copies of the books laying in 
waste when the software changes.   The FM brand has the opportunity to 
sell the idea of "always up-to-date books"  if they can keep the 
projects engaged in doing frequent updates.  If the cost of the books 
remains near the production costs, and all the content remains viewable 
on-line and in self printable form, and its clear to users that all 
these options exist then I don't see any chances for conflict or 
confusion on the part of users.    Great things happen when the choices 
provided by the producers align with benefits and options for the 
consumers.   I think that is the best way to think about updates.

What does the FM Brand mean?   I'll take a crack

-Many options for viewing the content by anyone - on-line, print your 
own, buy a book
-Many options for sharing great work -- Uncle Abby used to say "Steal 
this book",  that would be a great moto for FM  ;-)
-Many options for remixing the works of others to create new and greater 
things the orginal creators never thought of.

FM is about options and choice for producers and consumers of 
information FLOS Software

Its an open platform for communities to gather, get orgainized, 
collaborate and produce great works

Its a grass roots distribution system for getting good and up-to-date 
information into the hands of users/consumers

Decision making about what material gets produced and provide to users 
is distributed participatory and collaborative, as opposed to being 
centralized, closed and controlled.

Planning and Production of the material is also open, transparent.

All these dimensions  of openness and choice rolled together are what 
make FM unique, engaging, and revolutionary; and what make FM a hot, 
rockin, product and service ;-)

-chofmann

adam hyde wrote:
> 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
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