peter@ora.UUCP (Peter Mui) (06/22/89)
Thanks to all of you (actually, 32 of you) who responded to my questions about writing an emacs book. Here's a summary of the more discussed points: 1) GNU Emacs was the overwhelming favorite. After GNU, uEmacs, Freemacs, and Jove were most often mentioned, in that order. Unipress (Gosling) Emacs was surprisingly absent. 2) There were a large number of "don't bother"s who felt that the existing documentation, combined with the on-line tutorials and on-line help, was quite adequate. 3) Some areas noted for improved documentation: writing macro extensions in the different macro languages ^ lots of people commented about this ^ examples showing the same "customization" in different languages summary charts of the standard key bindings for different versions a sample .emacs default file w/ explanation of its parts mapping function keys on popular keyboards a "How Do I...?" section how to obtain the various versions a history of emacs An oft-mentioned GNU-specific gripe is that there is a large intuitive leap between the two books FSF produces, the GNU Emacs manual and the ELISP Programmer's Manual. Some people mentioned that FSF was planning to release a document that filled this void soon. There was also concern expressed about undermining the FSF with a for-profit book with parts about GNU. We're sensitive to this concern, and won't do an emacs book without coming to some agreement with FSF first. Again, thanks. If you've got more suggestions or comments, send me e-mail. -peter -- Peter Mui: (617) 354-5800 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 90 Sherman Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 UUCP: uunet!ora!peter ARPA: peter@ora.uu.net
rbj@dsys.ncsl.nist.GOV (Root Boy Jim) (06/24/89)
? From: Peter Mui <ginosko!infinet!adelie!ora!peter@BBN.COM> ? Organization: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Newton, MA ? 2) There were a large number of "don't bother"s who felt that the ? existing documentation, combined with the on-line tutorials and ? on-line help, was quite adequate. ? There was also concern expressed about undermining the FSF with a ? for-profit book with parts about GNU. ? We're sensitive to this concern, and won't do an emacs book without ? coming to some agreement with FSF first. Perhaps one agreement would be to split or even donate the profits to the GNU project. FSF sells the manuals for something like $15. A price of $20 to with a $15 donation to FSF would be about right, and the donation is tax deductible, a hidden profit. This way ORA would get PR value and be able to out their name before the public, similar to the way Public Radio & TV do: this program was produced in part by a grant from the Foobar Corporation. Perhaps a simple list of other ORA books would be allowed inside the back cover. FSF might be better served if it could rid itself of the distribution of hard-copy manuals. And FSF would be visible in bookstores. Go for it! ? Again, thanks. If you've got more suggestions or comments, send me e-mail. ? -peter ? Peter Mui: (617) 354-5800 ? O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. ? 90 Sherman Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 ? UUCP: uunet!ora!peter ARPA: peter@ora.uu.net Root Boy Jim is what I am Are you what you are or what?
rlk@think.com (Robert Krawitz) (06/24/89)
The FSF has no objection that I can see to people making profits, even large ones (e. g. if I can get you to give me $5000 for an emacs source tape, I haven't violated the license as long as I don't hold you to any other terms that violate it). Given that the main goal of the licensing arrangement is to ensure free distribution, an alternative arrangement would be to sell the book with a copyleft. Given that books are usually sold at prices more or less in line with their copying cost, and that the quality of a photocopy is inferior to that of the original book, the sales probably wouldn't be impacted to any great degree, and the book would capture the spirit of the FSF. Companies generally don't care about shelling out $10 or $15 for a manual for each employee, and stocking some extras in case some get lost, but they definitely care about shelling out a few thousand for a software license. -- ames >>>>>>>>> | Robert Krawitz <rlk@think.com> 245 First St. bloom-beacon > |think!rlk Cambridge, MA 02142 harvard >>>>>> . Thinking Machines Corp. (617)876-1111
lyndon@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Lyndon Nerenberg) (06/27/89)
In article <1576@ora.UUCP> peter@ora.UUCP (Peter Mui) writes: >There was also concern expressed about undermining the FSF with a >for-profit book with parts about GNU. >We're sensitive to this concern, and won't do an emacs book without >coming to some agreement with FSF first. How about donating the profits from the sales of this book to the FSF? -- Lyndon Nerenberg VE6BBM / Computing Services / Athabasca University {alberta,decwrl,ncc}!atha!lyndon || lyndon@cs.AthabascaU.CA