A few days ago I received the December issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal in the mail. This month's issue has an interesting article by Michael Swaine on the pending demise of the computer book.
I found one sentence in the article to be particularly interesting: Dave Thomas of the Pragmatic Bookshelf is quoted as saying "And that's exactly how it should be—information will become free".
So much of our economy now, however, is based on ownership of information. What's the difference between a Hyundai and a Mercedes that sells for 5 times as much? Mostly intellectual property of different sorts. The same can be said about microwaves, motorcycles and movies. For almost all of the material that flows through our global supply chain IP provides a large percentage of the value.
The free flow of information is not just an economic risk. The Washington Post reports that a US Government panel has found that Chinese theft of intellectual property represents a pressing national security threat as development of weapons systems components is increasingly outsourced.
What will happen if information does become free? We'll have to change our economic model, perhaps to one that is a bit more socialist in nature, methinks.
Another sentence in the article that I found interesting is one attributed to Rose Kelleher of www.ramblingrose.com, who, writes Swaine, observes that "traditional publishers pay the same royalty for a technical book that will be dead when the next rev of the product comes out as for a novel that could stay in print till it's out of copyright."
A few years ago (well, quite a few) I had enlisted as a co-author for a book on a new version of SQL Server. The book would have several authors, and my task was to write several chapters primarily on DDL. My primary motivation was not money. Mostly I was excited by the prospect of seeing my name on the spine of a book and by the challenge of trying to make SQL DDL interesting to read about.
My enthusiasm was soon sapped by the pace of the project (a chapter a week!) and by the apparent lack of emphasis on quality. When after six weeks the book project was canceled I sighed a great sigh of relief.
Swaine observes that there is a strong and growing market for some types of technology books such as Photoshop books and books in the Dummies series.
I think that computer books are a bit like newspapers. It's not that information is meant to be free, but that old economic models do not fit the internet age very well.
Perhaps a SQL novel something like "The Goal" ? :)
I found one sentence in the article to be particularly interesting: Dave Thomas of the Pragmatic Bookshelf is quoted as saying "And that's exactly how it should be—information will become free".
So much of our economy now, however, is based on ownership of information. What's the difference between a Hyundai and a Mercedes that sells for 5 times as much? Mostly intellectual property of different sorts. The same can be said about microwaves, motorcycles and movies. For almost all of the material that flows through our global supply chain IP provides a large percentage of the value.
The free flow of information is not just an economic risk. The Washington Post reports that a US Government panel has found that Chinese theft of intellectual property represents a pressing national security threat as development of weapons systems components is increasingly outsourced.
What will happen if information does become free? We'll have to change our economic model, perhaps to one that is a bit more socialist in nature, methinks.
Another sentence in the article that I found interesting is one attributed to Rose Kelleher of www.ramblingrose.com, who, writes Swaine, observes that "traditional publishers pay the same royalty for a technical book that will be dead when the next rev of the product comes out as for a novel that could stay in print till it's out of copyright."
A few years ago (well, quite a few) I had enlisted as a co-author for a book on a new version of SQL Server. The book would have several authors, and my task was to write several chapters primarily on DDL. My primary motivation was not money. Mostly I was excited by the prospect of seeing my name on the spine of a book and by the challenge of trying to make SQL DDL interesting to read about.
My enthusiasm was soon sapped by the pace of the project (a chapter a week!) and by the apparent lack of emphasis on quality. When after six weeks the book project was canceled I sighed a great sigh of relief.
Swaine observes that there is a strong and growing market for some types of technology books such as Photoshop books and books in the Dummies series.
I think that computer books are a bit like newspapers. It's not that information is meant to be free, but that old economic models do not fit the internet age very well.
Perhaps a SQL novel something like "The Goal" ? :)
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