New book range to be sold under 'Open Source' licence

By Steve Malone

Posted on 6 Jan 2003 at 15:50

Bruce Perens, one of the founders of the Open Source movement, has taken the concept into the world of e-books. He says he has convinced US publisher Prentice Hall to produce a series of books on technical subjects under the Open Source licence.

The idea is that not only can the books be downloaded and read for free, but they can also be modified and 'sold on' in a printed version. The business model is that the print version will be available first with the electronic version following after a few months. Perens and Prentice Hall are banking on the fact that people will want a paper version to read while keeping the e-book as a reference on their computer.

On his web site Perens explains: `The books are sold like any technical book. But they are legal to copy and modify, you are even allowed to sell the copies. The electronic versions of the books are placed on the web a few months after the print versions hit stores. The advantage of these books is that they need never go out of print. The electronic version can be kept up to date by anyone who cares to, and can be printed and sold. An instructor who is using them to teach a class can also tailor them to their particular needs, and a poor student need not buy the textbook to have it.'

The first two books
Embedded Software Development with eCos and The Linux Development Platform are available from the Barnes and Noble site now with a third due in March. Perens is hoping to have seven to nine books out this year under the Open Source licence.

Although the books are of a highly technical nature and aimed squarely at the Open Source community, many will be watching the progress of the initiative with interest. As one wag on Slashdot.org put it 'Microsoft Press will be pissed about this. "Open Source books will be the death of the industry!"'