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[nicholas]

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"Amiga Guru Book publication"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition
service, at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/4m1ga123/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might
agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider
signing yourself.

Best wishes,

Nicholas

If you don't know what this is about you don't need to know.

[Golem!dk]

Originally Posted by nicholas

If you don't know what this is about you don't need to know.

Humm...

[trekiej]

I signed this long time ago.

[nicholas]

Originally Posted by Golem!dk

Humm...

Unfortunately, the release of the 800-page extended edition of the Amiga Guru Book (covering OS 3.x and beyond) scheduled for April 2008 was preempted by some fool seeding a scan of the older version into one of those pirate-to-pirate networks, eliminating all hopes of me ever being able to recover the cost of a reprint, so the project had to be stopped immediately to avoid further loss of time and money. Thank you, Keith.

Hence why:

To: Ralph Babel

I would be interested in purchasing at least one copy of Ralph Babel's Amiga Guru book (http://www.iol.ie/~ecarroll/gurubook.html) in English language form, despite the existence of a pirated pdf copy on the Internet.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

[Golem!dk]

Right... well... don't need another copy, and a reprint of the second edition seems silly if an extended edition could be made available. That petition doesn't really make it clear what the target is... but old threads here probably cover that. 1 2

[nicholas]

Originally Posted by Golem!dk

Right... well... don't need another copy, and a reprint of the second edition seems silly if an extended edition could be made available.

Some of us don't have a printed copy and would like one.

[runequester]

Eh.

Option 1:
Release it as print on demand. Im sure the community would rather have the book, even if it means a bit lower quality (and POD has gotten damn good in recent years).
He states that he doesn't intend to make money off it, so why not?

Option 2:
Ransom it. Declare how much money you want to release it for free in PDF. Once that amount is pledged through a service that facilitates this, he makes the PDF or whatever available for free. Everybody wins.

He states that he doesn't want to release it in PDF, but its 2011.



On one end of the axis is "perfect", on the other end is "stuff actually happening". The two rarely meet

[SysAdmin]

I think option 3 happened, just let it rot. It's sad it never came out.

[persia]

It's estimated that while two to three years e-books will go from 10% of the market in the developed world to 50%. Printed books are about to go the way of printed newspapers and buggy whips....

[SysAdmin]

Originally Posted by persia

It's estimated that while two to three years e-books will go from 10% of the market in the developed world to 50%. Printed books are about to go the way of printed newspapers and buggy whips....

Yes, Amiga.org is switching from paper to digital too. The site is just too big when it's printed out. Franko been complaining when he has to print it everyday for us.

[TheBilgeRat]

Originally Posted by Transition

Yes, Amiga.org is switching from paper to digital too. The site is just too big when it's printed out. Franko been complaining when he has to print it everyday for us.

Nice!

[Trev]

A conspiracy theorist might say that Ralph himself played some part in the torrent distribution. It was virtually unknown before Ralph announced it. So, cheers to Ralph for advertising and possibly seeding what may or not have been an intentional leak of his original opus.

[olsen]

Originally Posted by Trev

A conspiracy theorist might say that Ralph himself played some part in the torrent distribution. It was virtually unknown before Ralph announced it. So, cheers to Ralph for advertising and possibly seeding what may or not have been an intentional leak of his original opus.

From what I know about Ralph, I would say that this theory does not hold water. I'd expect the Pope to convert to Buddhism first.

As for virtually unknown, Ralph was and still is a highly respected figure in the German-speaking Amiga community. He's been around since the very beginning, and the depth and scope of his knowledge is without compare. Local hero and everything, it's a matter of perspective.

[Trev]

I meant that the torrent was unknown until Ralph himself publicized it. Perhaps it was common knowledge in Europe. There's a bit of a divide between the European and American Amiga communities. Regardless, Ralph's response was childish. It only served to alienate his English-speaking neighbors.

[olsen]

Originally Posted by Trev

I meant that the torrent was unknown until Ralph himself publicized it. Perhaps it was common knowledge in Europe. There's a bit of a divide between the European and American Amiga communities.

OK, I understand what you mean.

Regardless, Ralph's response was childish. It only served to alienate his English-speaking neighbors.

Well, Ralph is Ralph. He keeps his own council.

Could be that time has mellowed him a bit and changed his opinion on publishing the book. By now it's almost common knowledge that selling the rare and the printed word will benefit from the attention generated by piracy. Which is a weird consequence of something that isn't supposed to be helpful in the first place.