Ok, I sent an email directly to Ralph regarding this, and he told me that I could post his reply on the Amiga forums, so here it is:
Quote:

Dear Hans, I appreciate your support, but this is not a question of how many copies could be sold. Let me try to provide some background: Piracy is a fact of life in the digital age, and current copyright law is certainly past its prime. The new Guru Book, however, wasn't a commercial project to begin with, and since I didn't expect to make any money off it, I wasn't too worried about the old RTF/OCR version (which I even mentioned on my Amiga web page). In fact, it's been fun to dust off all of my old Amiga equipment, tools, and documentation. (Though I have to admit that I used Emacs and TeX on a Linux box to prepare the new edition.) But claiming that pirates aren't customers anyhow doesn't quite hit the nail on the head, because this is where the line is getting blurry: The new 300-dpi scan was prepared and disseminated not by Joe Average Pirate with too much time on his hands. It was a fellow Amiga enthusiast who knew exactly that an enhanced version was being worked on. Nonetheless, he decided to make the torrent available - just days before the extended edition was to go to the printer -, which - in my very humble opinion - exhibits an enormous amount of disrespect for somebody else's creative work. Maybe he considered free availability of the 1993 version more important than the update. Well, so be it. As I wanted the reprint to be of the highest possible quality, print-on-demand was out of the question. Offset, however, requires a certain minimum number of copies. Let's face it: this is 2008; the audience for a book like this is microscopic, and the new scans didn't make it any larger. So why am I not making it available electronically? I believe that text needs to be written not only to the audience, but also with the target _medium_ in mind. An article I write for my web site will look different from one to be published in a printed magazine; the original plain-text list of FAQs I wrote for the Usenet newsgroup de.etc.sprache.deutsch differs markedly from my web site http://faql.de etc. The Guru Book was "designed" to be published on paper. Yes, it would be nice to have an electronic edition, but that would require a "redesign" I cannot reasonably spend any time on. And no, I don't consider PDF adequate (which the pirate was well aware of, by the way). I do not depend on writing copyrighted works for a living, but I feel that the cause of those who do (and thus society as a whole) is best supported by me _not_ releasing the new extended edition of the Guru Book. The decision didn't come lightly. Please respect it - and try to provide for an environment in which creative workers are encouraged - and can afford - to share their work. Sincerely Ralph http://babel.de P. S.: Feel free to forward this message to an Amiga forum of your choice.

So there you have it. I'm still hoping that he may reconsider at some point, but it looks like the market would have to be big enough to support offset printing. The estimates that I've seen put the threshold for offset printing being more economical than digital prints at 500-2000 copies (the large margin is because it depends on many factors).

Hans

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@Hans

He can't make it perfect, therefore he won't release it at all? Reminds me of a movie where a sculptor kept on making statue after beautiful statue, then smashing them because they weren't "right". If everyone had that attitude we'd all still be living in caves eating raw nuts and berries.

Seems to me that either he can't finish the work for whatever reason and feels obliged to lie about it (wtf is wrong with just saying "look, I really wanted to do it, but I have more important stuff happening right now"), or he's a beer short of a sixpack. Not good either way.

Last edited by CodeSmith on 17-May-2008 at 07:44 PM.

@Hans
Quote:

It was a fellow Amiga enthusiast who knew exactly that an enhanced version was being worked on. Nonetheless, he decided to make the torrent available - just days before the extended edition was to go to the printer -, which - in my very humble opinion - exhibits an enormous amount of disrespect for somebody else's creative work.

Time for he/she to publically confess to the crime. Then maybe something positive can happen from there.

_________________
ExecSG Team Lead

"The new 300-dpi scan was prepared and disseminated not
by Joe Average Pirate with too much time on his hands.
It was a fellow Amiga enthusiast who knew exactly that
an enhanced version was being worked on."

Sounds like Ralph has an idea about who did it, would like to know if he really does as I assumed it was just a 'Joe Average Pirate'. Is that who 'Keith' (from his original announcement) is?

"As I wanted the reprint to be of the highest possible
quality, print-on-demand was out of the question. Offset,
however, requires a certain minimum number of copies."

Looked into the quality available through print-on-demand. This is an interesting summary about one persons experience with lulu.com:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00GNQk

Photo printing is more demanding than text printing, so if the service gives acceptable results to photographers surely it's good enough for our needs?

Maybe offset printing is still feasible, I don't know. In any case, we will have much more chance of showing Ralph how much this book publication means to us if we make our voices heard, so please sign the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/4m1ga123/petition.html

Thanks to all of those who have already signed the petition, it's currently at 45 signatures. The more people sign the better chance we have of seeing a legitimate print run, so if you haven't signed yet please do so. Thanks.

Last edited by HenryCase on 17-May-2008 at 09:36 PM.

@Hans

Something is screwy here. What the devil has an old 1993 edition to do with a new revised edition with added material?

I would not want the old one. Give me the new one. Sounds like he is forcing people to go for the scanned one if they want/need a version, sigh

_________________
Moxee
AmigaOne X1000
AmigaOne XE G4
I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong.

@CodeSmith

Quote:

If everyone had that attitude we'd all still be living in caves eating raw nuts and berries.

It is his own project and he can decide what to do with it. He is not obliged to please Amiga developers just only because he is an Amiga guru.

_________________
Amiga Developer
Amiga 500, Efika, Mac Mini and PowerBook

@itix

The amiga scene is full of drama queens. Can you think of any major player in the last 15 years that didn't have some big ego related episode? that's why we're in the mess we are in.

I found this on amiga-news.de:
http://www.amiga-news.de/de/news/comments/224105.html
Can someone who knows German please translate this text:

"> Dann hättest Du vielleicht Herrn Babel mitteilen sollen, daß es schon
entsprechende viele (169) Bestellungen gibt, und daß nur ein kleine

Es gibt keine 169 Bestellungen. Es gibt 169 EMails von Usern die daran Interesse haben.

Es ist von mir ein Angebot gemacht worden das ich es im Digitaldruck veröffentliche und ich das volle finanzielle Risiko trage. wie schon gesagt habe ich viel Zeit damit verbracht eine passende Druckerei zu finden.

Das wollte er nicht. Ist seine Entscheidung und die muss man akzeptieren.

Genauso wie man akzeptieren muss wenn er das Buch nicht mehr neu auflegen möchte. Auch dann wenn ihm seine Begründung nicht gefällt."

I understand the 169 e-mails part but not the rest of it.

*Petition pimp time!*
http://www.petitiononline.com/4m1ga123/petition.html
Over 75 signatures now. Lets keep this momentum going Amigans!

@HenryCase

According to Babel Fish:
Quote:

Amiga guru Book: Reprint abgekündigt AndreasM (profile) (15-Mai-2008, 23: 10) @53 Perhaps > then you should have communicated Mr. Babel that it already appropriate many (169) orders it gives and that only a small There are no 169 orders. There are 169 enamels of Usern those to it interest has. By me an offer was made which I it in the digital printing publishes and I carry the full financial risk. as I already said spent suitable printering to much time thereby to find. It did not want that. Its decision and those are must one accept. Exactly the same as one accepting does not have to again present if it the book any longer would like. Also then if his reason does not please him.

_________________
Peter Swallow.
A1XEG3-800 [IBM 750FX PowerPC], running OS4.1FE, using ac97 onboard sound.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

@Swoop

Thanks Swoop. I did try Babelfish before, but I wasn't sure if it had the translation right.

So from what I understand it was Andreas' decision to not print the book, as he would have had to cover the full financial risk. But there are ways around this (pre-order system, print-on-demand, etc...).

Am I also right in reading that there were 169 e-mails showing interest in the book (I'm guessing from when the reprint was first discussed)? Does this mean if the petition gets more than 169 signatures the popularity can be proven to have been as strong/stronger than when the reprint announcement was first made (in 2007 IIRC) and we can show that the torrent version of Amiga Guru Book hasn't affected its print run viability?

@HenryCase
Quote:

Thanks Swoop. I did try Babelfish before, but I wasn't sure if it had the translation right.

You didnt get it right.

Quote:

So from what I understand it was Andreas' decision to not print the book, as he would have had to cover the full financial risk. But there are ways around this (pre-order system, print-on-demand, etc...).

No.
It was Ralphs decision to not print the book and Andreas offered him to take the full financial risk to print it.

Quote:

Am I also right in reading that there were 169 e-mails showing interest in the book (I'm guessing from when the reprint was first discussed)?

Yes.

@ZeroG

Quote:

Quote: So from what I understand it was Andreas' decision to not print the book, as he would have had to cover the full financial risk. But there are ways around this (pre-order system, print-on-demand, etc...). No. It was Ralphs decision to not print the book and Andreas offered him to take the full financial risk to print it.

Thanks for clearing that up ZeroG. I must say that the decision is baffling, but as I am hopeful we can change Ralph's mind I will say no more on that subject.

Last edited by HenryCase on 19-May-2008 at 08:15 PM.

*Bump*
I don't like repeating myself again and again, so I'll make this brief. Over 110 signatures now. 170 signatures is the target so please sign the petition if you haven't done so (and if you'd like to see the book published, naturally!).

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

@HenryCase

Trouble might be, out of all who sign it, only a few buy it, then what happens to the person that takes the financial risk ? I hope it's published and I'd buy it but not if it's a fortune, I some you guys take reversible preorders or something...

_________________

José

@Jose

Jose, I understand your concern. There is a question in the petition that asks the person whether they would consider a pre-order. That would be the next logical step if the petition is successful in changing Ralph's mind. The vast majority of Amiga fans who have already signed the petition would be interested in pre-ordering the Amiga Guru Book. The price of the book would have to be reasonably affordable but I'd say that is achievable. Have you signed the petition yet Jose (just curious)?

Last edited by HenryCase on 19-May-2008 at 02:17 AM.
Last edited by HenryCase on 19-May-2008 at 02:16 AM.

@Hans

I'm with you - while it is indeed his own work, I certainly hope he will reconsider in the future, or let someone continue it.

I did sign the petition - while I don't believe the mere existence of an 'online petition' will do much, perhaps with some followup, he may reconsider, at least in 'some format' whether print, PDF, on demand, whatever. As I noted in the petition itself, I will buy two if the revised edition becomes available. (while I do indeed hope they will be < $500 each, however )

Last edited by wegster on 19-May-2008 at 04:01 AM.

_________________
Are we not done with the same silly arguments and flames yet??!

Quote:

wegster wrote: I did sign the petition - while I don't believe the mere existence of an 'online petition' will do much, perhaps with some followup, he may reconsider, at least in 'some format' whether print, PDF, on demand, whatever. As I noted in the petition itself, I will buy two if the revised edition becomes available. (while I do indeed hope they will be < $500 each, however )

Yes, the petition is only the first part of the plan, collecting evidence if you will that shows the market is there. I then hope to help Ralph and Andreas find a printing solution that everyone can agree on.

I will be e-mailing Ralph when we reach the magic 170 number of signatures on the petition, which is imminent (only two signatures to go) which I am sure will help Ralph reconsider his position. Of course the more signatures the better, every petition signature helps us prove that the pirate copy is not a suitable substitute for the real (and newly revised) book.

I know that optimism in the Amiga community is low right now, but I see the huge response to the petition as a great sign that shows the Amiga community is starting to see it has some control over its own destiny through positive action. Here's hoping the publication of the new Amiga Guru Book will be a catalyst for similar victories for the Amiga community.

@HenryCase

In sign of my support I won't be signing the petition for a book of which I have no use for. I hope many follow my example and sign only if they have a clear interest in the book, otherwise they will be cheating those who are investing more then their time, their money onto a product.

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Quote:

pixie wrote: In sign of my support I won't be signing the petition for a book of which I have no use for. I hope many follow my example and sign only if they have a clear interest in the book, otherwise they will be cheating those who are investing more then their time, their money onto a product.

That's fine pixie, I've made it clear from the beginning that the people signing the petition should be interested in purchasing it.

In any case, we made it people! Over 170 signatures now. I will be e-mailing Ralph tonight with the news. Still sign the petition if you haven't done so and would like the book, the more signatures the clearer the message is.

Last edited by HenryCase on 19-May-2008 at 09:57 PM.

@HenryCase
Did you send the mail?

*free bump*

_________________
Are we not done with the same silly arguments and flames yet??!