On 10/21/07, Oldak Quill <oldakquill(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
On 21/10/2007, Anthony <wikimail(a)inbox.org>
wrote:
On 10/21/07, Oldak Quill
<oldakquill(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Such a book could only help Wikipedia.
If it were free content it'd help Wikipedia even more, though.
On those counts, I agree with you - it would be far better if it were
free content (and perhaps Wikimedia could start such a project?). But
while proprietory knowledge exists and is so prevalent, I think an
extra book (whether proprietory or, preferably, free) helps.
I don't know that a proprietary book helps all that much. How many
newbies are going to shell out $27 for a PDF or $40 for a print
version of this? Free content would help a *lot* more, and *if* the
WMF is in a legal position where they could force it to happen, I
think they should.
If the WMF isn't in such a legal position, then I go back to my
comment earlier: "Wow, I'm rather surprised by that. Ohwell." Too
bad.
Contrary to some perceptions, it is not unreasonable for someone who invests
the time and money to write a book to then expect to make money off of it.
Talk of "forcing" them to make this work free content is tantamount to
robbery and ridiculously unethical in my opinion.
-Robert Rohde