Re: Writing free documentation/GNOME books

[Miguel de Icaza <miguel nuclecu unam mx>]

> I truly hope you don't think the User documentation is lacking as that
> would be a real ego deflater for me. The project has grown good feet
> and now there are many people working on it from a writing, editing,
> and translation standpoint. 

Please read my message again.

I am sad and upset about the publishing industry and how it treats
consumers and authors of books.  And I want to get OpenSourced books
to people and get authors a better deal when they publish their
books. 

> If there are any problems with it, it is
> my lack of getting more GNOME hackers to give it a technical review (I
> don't get the feeling too many of the major project contributors have
> read it yet).

what is this documentation you are talking about?  The one that Dave
at Red Hat wrote?  I am missing something here.

Fact is: the GNOME API documentation is not yet finished, it lacks
examples, and some introductory material.

> The GTK documentation has gotten off to a great start and is being
> maintained very well. I personally think it is important to get GTK
> done before GNOME, but that is a personal opinion.

They can be done in parallel.

> I think it is important that these projects have one or two
> maintainers at the maximum so that it remains well organized. I am the
> sole maintainer of the User docs and would be happy to join in and
> share the duties of maintaining the GNOME API project. GTK is being
> handled well so we should let it grow and start contributing more. 

I would love to get your help on this task.

> As to starting a company, I will try to keep my opinions to myself as
> much as possible here. I personally don't think it is a good step for
> the GNOME project. 

I am not saying the GNOME project should do it.  I even suggested the
FSF could be a good starting place.  I have received a number of
comments from people that have companies that are trying to do this.

I do not care who publishes them, I just want:

	1. Open Sourced documentation.
	2. A good pay for the authors.
	3. A company that is willing to publish those books.

Best wishes,
Miguel.
-- 
miguel@gnu.org