Обсуждение: book status
OK, yesterday I signed contracts from Addison, Wesley, Longman for a book on PostgreSQL. I got approval from Marc, Thomas, Vadim, and Tom Lane. I also sent them a resume which was approved by the core group. I have redesigned the outline because some of the chapters were too long, and have written about 30 pages so far. With the missing chapters, it comes to 64 pages. I am waiting for some text from the publisher, just stating that the book is being written under contract for them, and I will make the book available in PDF and HTML formats on the web as soon as possible. I plan to add the PostgreSQL manual pages as an appendix to the book. Yes, I am being payed for the book, at some future date. I realize other developers are using PostgreSQL in their work or in consulting, but this is a much more public involvement. All I can say is that I have always been ready to throw money into the PostgreSQL project, and will continue to do so when possible. Can't wait for everyone to see it. Shouldn't be too long now. I will post when it is ready. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BTW, where do people want the PDF and HTML files? My idea is to update them every night. FYI, I just cleaned up my PDF version. Seems that ps2pdf requires me to use Latin1 font encoding, or all my fonts in the PDF file are bitmapped fonts and not spline/curved fonts. This is mentioned in the ps2pdf manual pages. I just never realized the LyX's default encoding is ASCII and not Latin1. Bitmapped fonts don't matter if you print out the PDF, but if you view it on the screen, Adobe Acrobat Reader showed the text looking terrible. Ghostview was much better at rendering the bitmapped fonts, but I am sure there are many people who want to view the PDF file with Acrobat, so I have that fixed. xpdf couldn't render the bitmapped fonts either. I have switched to Palatino, and upgraded to Alladin Ghostscript 5.94beta, so the PDF problems people reported with the previous PDF should be fixed now. -- Bruce Momjian | http://www.op.net/~candle maillist@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue + Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania19026
Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us> writes: > Yes, I am being payed for the book, at some future date. I realize > other developers are using PostgreSQL in their work or in consulting, > but this is a much more public involvement. All I can say is that I > have always been ready to throw money into the PostgreSQL project, and > will continue to do so when possible. Since you'll be doing the bulk of the work that is specific to the book, I can't see any reason to object to you being the one getting paid for it. Many (most?) of us are using Postgres for work purposes, or otherwise deriving some kind of personal/corporate/proprietary benefit from it. A book project based on Postgres seems no different to me from the money my company hopes to make from running a Postgres-based application. Indeed, this book project is considerably more likely to return tangible benefit to the Postgres group (in the form of new users/contributors attracted to the project) than most other ways people might be using Postgres to make money. In short, you needn't offer the slightest apology for collecting the book royalties personally. From what I've heard of the book-writing biz, you're unlikely to get rich off it anyway :-( Since I didn't see any howls of outrage on the mailing list, I imagine everyone else thinks the same anyway, but if you need some reassurance these are my two cents. > BTW, where do people want the PDF and HTML files? My idea is to update > them every night. Stick 'em on the website/ftpsite somewhere under the docs page. I'd probably gripe if I found them getting pulled as part of the regular CVS source module --- those updates are slow enough already --- but if you want to keep them in CVS I suppose a separate CVS module could be set up. regards, tom lane
On Wed, 20 Oct 1999, Tom Lane wrote: > Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us> writes: > > Yes, I am being payed for the book, at some future date. I realize > > other developers are using PostgreSQL in their work or in consulting, > > but this is a much more public involvement. All I can say is that I > > have always been ready to throw money into the PostgreSQL project, and > > will continue to do so when possible. > > Since you'll be doing the bulk of the work that is specific to the book, > I can't see any reason to object to you being the one getting paid for > it. Many (most?) of us are using Postgres for work purposes, or > otherwise deriving some kind of personal/corporate/proprietary benefit > from it. A book project based on Postgres seems no different to me > from the money my company hopes to make from running a Postgres-based > application. Indeed, this book project is considerably more likely > to return tangible benefit to the Postgres group (in the form of new > users/contributors attracted to the project) than most other ways > people might be using Postgres to make money. > > In short, you needn't offer the slightest apology for collecting the > book royalties personally. From what I've heard of the book-writing > biz, you're unlikely to get rich off it anyway :-( > > Since I didn't see any howls of outrage on the mailing list, I imagine > everyone else thinks the same anyway, but if you need some reassurance > these are my two cents. Well put Tom. Couldn't have said it better. Vince. -- ========================================================================== Vince Vielhaber -- KA8CSH email: vev@michvhf.com flame-mail: /dev/null # include <std/disclaimers.h> Have you seenhttp://www.pop4.net? Online Campground Directory http://www.camping-usa.com Online Giftshop Superstore http://www.cloudninegifts.com ==========================================================================
I will have to agree whole heartily with the sentiments here. This a work that your are doing and should rightly be appropriately compensated. All within the PostgreSQL community will benefit. The community will benefit with increased documentation, increased exposure and visibility and increasing credibility. Philosophically, I believe all who use PostgreSQL benefit economically simply by keeping untold numbers of dollars (or other currency) in their pocket. Like you I think those who do use PostgreSQL and can contribute should. But it is nice to know that a quality option is available for those who can't contribute financially. I don't think you should feel obligated to contribute any of the earnings to PostgreSQL. Let your giving be by choice and joy not obligation due to pressure from any part of the community. Absolutely no apology required. Your contribution is a blessing to the community, not a burden. :) Personally, I am ready to buy. Where can I get my copy. :) I also hope have more books for PostgreSQL cooking on the back burner. Jimmie Houchin Tom Lane wrote: > > Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us> writes: > > Yes, I am being payed for the book, at some future date. I realize > > other developers are using PostgreSQL in their work or in consulting, > > but this is a much more public involvement. All I can say is that I > > have always been ready to throw money into the PostgreSQL project, and > > will continue to do so when possible. > > Since you'll be doing the bulk of the work that is specific to the book, > I can't see any reason to object to you being the one getting paid for > it. Many (most?) of us are using Postgres for work purposes, or > otherwise deriving some kind of personal/corporate/proprietary benefit > from it. A book project based on Postgres seems no different to me > from the money my company hopes to make from running a Postgres-based > application. Indeed, this book project is considerably more likely > to return tangible benefit to the Postgres group (in the form of new > users/contributors attracted to the project) than most other ways > people might be using Postgres to make money. > > In short, you needn't offer the slightest apology for collecting the > book royalties personally. From what I've heard of the book-writing > biz, you're unlikely to get rich off it anyway :-( > > Since I didn't see any howls of outrage on the mailing list, I imagine > everyone else thinks the same anyway, but if you need some reassurance > these are my two cents. > > > BTW, where do people want the PDF and HTML files? My idea is to update > > them every night. > > Stick 'em on the website/ftpsite somewhere under the docs page. I'd > probably gripe if I found them getting pulled as part of the regular CVS > source module --- those updates are slow enough already --- but if you > want to keep them in CVS I suppose a separate CVS module could be set up. > > regards, tom lane > > ************