Essays:TNT: free tech books/en: Difference between revisions

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'''Author''': Evgeny Golyshev

On '''May 31, 2024''', I launched a catalog of technical literature available under open licenses, where all books can be downloaded for free. The catalog, called TNT (short for '''T'''utorI'''n'''.'''T'''ech), is implemented as a [https://t.me/TutorInTechBot?start=wiki Telegram bot]. Users can create their own library, access it from any device, share books, and much more, but first things first.

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== High-quality vs. Free ==

The idea of '''high-quality''' yet '''free''' technical literature may still seem unrealistic today, much like free software did four decades ago. '''Bill Gates'''' "Open Letter to Hobbyists", which questioned communal software development, may still resonate with a considerable number of people when it comes to books. In that letter from February 1976, Gates wrote<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_Letter_to_Hobbyists_ocr.pdf</ref>:

The idea of '''high-quality''' yet '''free''' technical literature may still seem unrealistic today, much like free software did four decades ago. '''Bill Gates'''' "Open Letter to Hobbyists", which questioned communal software development, may still resonate with a considerable number of people when it comes to books. In that letter from '''February 1976''', Gates wrote<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bill_Gates_Letter_to_Hobbyists_ocr.pdf</ref>:

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=== Hybrid Format for Book Distribution ===

The free distribution of a book doesn't exclude cooperation with a commercial publisher. One does not interfere with the other. As an example, I would like to mention the book [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_as_in_Freedom Free as in Freedom], which is dedicated to '''Richard Stallman''', the founder of the GNU Project and the free software movement. This book was published by '''Tim O'Reilly''''s publishing house under the '''GNU Free Documentation License 1.1''', a license that the author, '''Sam Williams''', insisted upon. Since the license permitted ~~the creation of~~ derivative works, the book's central figure, Stallman, released an expanded and revised version several years after its initial publication, which he called Free as in Freedom 2.0. The second edition was published by the Free Software Foundation.

The free distribution of a book doesn't exclude cooperation with a commercial publisher. One does not interfere with the other. As an example, I would like to mention the book [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_as_in_Freedom Free as in Freedom], which is dedicated to '''Richard Stallman''', the founder of the GNU Project and the free software movement. This book was published by '''Tim O'Reilly''''s publishing house under the '''GNU Free Documentation License 1.1''', a license that the author, '''Sam Williams''', insisted upon. Since the license permitted derivative works, the book's central figure, Stallman, released an expanded and revised version several years after its initial publication, which he called Free as in Freedom 2.0. The second edition was published by the Free Software Foundation.

This is just one example of O'Reilly publishing a book under an open license. In the past, his publishing house did this quite frequently<ref>The list of books under open licenses from O'Reilly can be found [http://web.archive.org/web/20240113043735/https://www.oreilly.com/openbook/ here].</ref>. Other well-known publishers of technical literature, such as '''Apress''' and '''No Starch Press''', continue to do so even today<ref>The list of books under open licenses from Apress can be found [https://apress.com/gp/apress-open/apressopen-titles here].</ref>.