Ditto! I'm thrilled to see other folks know about the great content there. Eric Cope wrote: > bonus points for mises.org links! > > On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 10:28 PM, A. W. Wright > > wrote: > > (Since we are top-posting) > > In your opinion! I am more then happy to pay my $10 for 1/500th of a > tree planted and harvested and processed by private companies on their > own private property, or resources that would have been cut down and > gone unused otherwise. We don't cut down rainforests for paper > (rainforests are really only cut down for clearing land). I > mean, /everyone/ knows trees are /not/ renewable resources. > Companies have hundreds of thousands of acres of land just for trees, in > New England where I lived, the land would be leased for tapping maple > syrup among other things. What about the alternative? If people don't > buy books, what would they be doing instead that might possibly be more > harmful? I don't suppose anyone considered how many more times E-waste > uses, and how harmful it is? Or some other activity other then > reading/computing altogether? > > I happen to own (one) O'Reilly book (Firefox Hacks) and found it very > useful. Fact is online references just can't replace printed > instructional materials. For instance the book Man, Economy, and State, > great publication available online at http://mises.org/rothbard/mes.asp > and PDF with a cc-by license. I purchaced the book anyways, because the > additional value I get from the printed version justifies the cost, > for me. > > While we are on the subject of copyright, http://mises.org/story/2632 . > Tagging OT. I often wonder which industries would be more or less > successful without IP laws, and how the economy has evolved around it > and been distorted by it. Perhaps the movie theater industry would exist > (because contract law would still protect movies) but DVDs, which are > the bulk of the profits, would be very different. Patents would no > longer be a concern, since especially nowadays the cost of not > innovating at all is still lower then the cost of innovating without a > patent and the associated monopoly (or would be offset by the increased > ability to use innovations you were previously not able to legally). > Trademarks would still exist in some sense, since you wouldn't be able > to claim it is a genuine X brand product (that would be fraud since you > are not getting the product you were promised). > > Austin Wright. > > Joshua Zeidner wrote: > > On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 7:28 PM, Alan Dayley > > wrote: > > > >> I don't understand the negativity around dead tree media. > >> > > > > The criticisms are complex. Primarily, chopping down rain forests > > to explain to someone how to write Perl is considered wasteful and > > excessive[1]. Its obvious to anyone who is serious about development > > that a few google queries rivals what you can find in any printed > > technical manual ( for $69.95 ). The core issue though is what I > > mention elsewhere in this thread, currently there is no > dependable way > > to enforce compensation for authors other than print. Where there is > > no compensation, there is low or no quality. Amazon has an > > interesting initiative, the Kindle, but history has shown that > all DRM > > schemes will eventually be hacked- so its just a matter of time > before > > people are reading 'bootlegged' copy on their Kindles. Secondly this > > raises the familiar issues of the excesses of copyright. As we begin > > to rely more and more on legal authority in the realm of ideas, we > > start to encounter more and more exploitation (ie. people > copyrighting > > chord progressions or yoga postures). We have yet to find a > practical > > system that works and promotes innovation and art, obviously progress > > needs to be made in understanding what factors are at stake here and > > how to effectively address them. > > > > -jmz > > > > [1] Americans use more than 50 million tons of paper each year, > > consuming more than 850 million trees > > > > > > > > > >> It has many > >> advantages, including ultimate portability and no dead batteries. I > >> currently have multiple O'Reilly books above my computer here, > all of > >> which I have actually used, some more than others. My Linux Pocket > >> Guide is an excellent reference. There's just something about > having > >> three fingers between different sections of a book and flipping > >> between them while learning! > >> > >> O'Reilly, as a company, has provided excellent support for > >> Linux/FS/OSS with books and conferences and direct support for PLUG. > >> Sure, it made good business sense for them to do it or they probably > >> wouldn't but, that's OK because we both win. O'Reilly is supporting > >> new avenues of knowledge spreading with efforts like Ignite events > >> (http://www.ignitephoenix.com) > >> > >> While I believe printed books will be come less and less > important, I > >> hope they don't go away completely. And I have learned > something from > >> every O'Reilly book I own. That they have a book named "favorite > >> Linux book of all time" is another bonus to them. > >> > >> Alan > >> > >> On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 7:02 PM, Craig White > > wrote: > >> > >>> I'm not sure why I am bothering with this but I do happen to > own many > >>> dead tree edition computer books including many O'Reilly books > but truth > >>> be told, they are decorating my office by residing on shelves > instead of > >>> my desk so I think your characterization is slightly too narrow. > >>> > >>> It's also hard to ignore that O'Reilly actually has contributed > stuff to > >>> PLUG and has solicited the list for reviewers which makes me > think that > >>> the commentaries are overly harsh. > >>> > >>> Lastly, it is obvious that both Lisa and Joshua don't seem to > care that > >>> Gerald expressed a personal pride connection with this > particular book > >>> and I would like to ask Gerald what his connection was to > "Linux in a > >>> Nutshell?" > >>> > >>> Craig > >>> > >>> On Mon, 2009-05-04 at 18:39 -0700, Joshua Zeidner wrote: > >>> > >>>> agreed. O'reilly = lame. The price of those books is hardly > worth > >>>> the information in them. They're mainly used for decorating > the desks > >>>> of poser developers. > >>>> > >>>> -jmz > >>>> > >>>> On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 6:34 PM, Lisa Kachold > > wrote: > >>>> > >>>>> Snore! > >>>>> > >>>>> Bored with the under publishing of technical books, and over > blown accolades > >>>>> for the few available.... > >>>>> > >>>>> O'Really now! > >>>>> I own that book BTW (and the Unix in A Nutshell it was > patterned afer was > >>>>> well used too) but I find the actual sources of each > distribution more > >>>>> useful (man, cat /proc/cpuinfo, ls, find) than that book, > which is far from > >>>>> current or distro specific. > >>>>> > >>>>> big yawn with dreamy bleary eyes > >>>>> > >>>>> On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 12:41 PM, Gerald Thurman > > wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>>> Tim O'Reilly just tweeted this... > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Linux Journal Reader's Choice Awards: Linux in a Nutshell > favorite Linux > >>>>>> book of all time. I'm honored. http://bit.ly/hhTBH > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > -- -Eric 'shubes' --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss