D Programming Language Specification ebook

Daniel Gibson metalcaedes at gmail.com
Sun Jul 3 19:36:26 PDT 2011


Am 04.07.2011 04:11, schrieb Walter Bright:
> I think it would be a good move to make a kindle ebook out of the
> specification on the web site. Not only will it be convenient for those
> who wish to peruse the spec using a kindle, it will be helpful for
> marketing etc.
> 
> The difficulty is that if I put the ebook up on Amazon for free, people
> tend to equate free with "crap". It needs to have a price on it to be
> taken seriously.
> 
> But if I put a price on it, people will be demotivated to continue
> contributing to it, because they'll perceive someone else profiting from
> their work.
> 
> Perhaps proceeds from it should be put towards other promotions of D,
> like maybe a conference? More contests with prizes?
> 
> What do you all think? $0? $4.99? $9.99?
> 
> And yes, the content will be identical to that on the website, just
> formatted for the kindle.

I think free is better. Maybe promote it as "Open" ("Open Specification"
or whatever) instead of free, that sounds more like Open Source (often
of high quality) than Freeware (often crap) ;-)

If you sell information that is otherwise (legally) available for free
people may feel ripped off - which would damage D's reputation much more
than an eBook that some people may not take seriously because it's for
free. (And people who think that way will probably not take a compiler
that comes for free seriously either.)

Giving away an eBook for free is not the same as thrusting a
book/magazine in peoples hand on a trade show or after a speech or
something (whether they want it or not) - as long as it's not advertised
with popup-ads or something - they (can) actively choose to download it.

And please provide that ebook as PDF or whatever on the D homepage so
people with other ebook readers (or iPads) can use it as well. :-)

Cheers,
- Daniel


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