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On Sun, 04 Apr 2010 00:46:52 +0100 Julian Hall wrote: > On 03/04/2010 21:30, Grant Sewell wrote: > > There are many good Linux and/or Open Source books about, the > > problem with them is that they become outdated fairly quickly. > > F'rexample, should a new book on XP (which was released in 2002) be > > produced it might be considered outdated but certainly still > > relevant... but a new book on Debian Woody (also released 2002) > > would probably not go down so well. > > > > Grant. > You think that's bad? In uni I was looking for books with another > student for an assignment - bearing in mind the library had just been > given a Â1m grant for new books, and *turned down* my offer of course > books that were on the Recommended Reading list for my course when I > finished[1]. Among others we found Linux books - great, but Linux is > not on any of the syllabuses in the IT department so WHY? - Office 97 > and 95, and a Windows 2 guide!! Needless to say we pointed out to > the course director that it's all very well for the library to have > Â1m for new books, but if they got rid of the obsolete rubbish they'd > have plenty of space to fit the new ones. He - wearily - agreed. > > Julian > > [1] I ended up giving them to the IT Faculty head who passed them > onto a third year student this year. This is very true but the publishers are unlikely to have this specific aim or viewpoint in mind when the decide for/against a book proposal. They are out to make money and a book that *appears* to be out-of-date within 1 year, IMHO, is less likely to be looked upon favourably than one with some staying power. (And yes, I am aware that the majority of the content for a 2002-Woody book is still perfectly valid today, but think about it from the publishers point of view since they are the ones (fortunately or otherwise) who decide if the book gets the go ahead or not.) Grant. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html