the best way to ensure inexpensive texts.

Again, has competition in this sector led to lower textbook costs?

Go back to the drawing board and think about the difference between commodity texts and proprietary texts.

I can walk into Barnes and Noble today and purchase a trade version of a geometry text for $25. The very same (or similar) content in a commercial textbook will cost *three to four times* that amount. Soo where's your commercial 'efficiency'?

My commercial efficiency is demonstrated *right there*, in your hands, that $25 book, as opposed to the $75-$100 book produced by a politicized and *proprietary* process.

You ar completely misunderstanding my proposition. Would you like to turn over the highways to private enterprise? How about medical care (look what a great job private enterprise has done there)? How about pharma (there's a really cool example of private enterprise creating something that only the wealthy can afford).

Yes, I think that all of those things should be privatized. Next question?

What I am saying, is that we will see (counterintuitively), some price inefficiencies rising from that.

Which is why you propose a state takeover of the textbook business.

You say that you don't, but then you turn around and say that you do.

Now, there might be ways to deal with those inefficiencies. Maybe we help the adopting states by finding our own publishers, who are willing to state (via contract) up front that they will not charge over a certain raw cost percentage of the content. There are many (hypothetical, at present) ways to deal with this.

Why do we need to do that, it doesn't make any sense to do that.

I don't think you've thought this through very well at all.

Consider: we create a textbook, call it "Wikimedia: 9th Grade American History". We get it accepted, as a paper text, by the committee. If the committee is corrupt (bribed) or whatever, and refuses to consider it, then that's a big problem, and your lobbying should focus strongly on that.

But once it's accepted, then the "Wikimedia: 9th Grade American History" will easily outcompete all the other textbooks on price, because it can and will be produced by highly competitive low cost printers. We've removed the proprietary 'edge'. And if those low cost printers make big profits, all the better!

With due respect (and I mean that), you are illustrating a complete ignorance of the textbook publishing business. The "print" side of the business is very competitive, because the barriers to entry are very low (more economics).

Right, that's what I've been trying to explain to you.

The content side is *not* competitive, because there is essentially a private content publishing cartel, owned by just a few publishing giants.

Right, and that's where we come in.

You see, I do understand this business, and I understand what open source can do for it, better than you think.

I just don't think you've thought through the implications of what you're advocating.

--Jimbo