[TriLUG] writing about a OSS project you had nothing to do with

Tim Jowers timjowers at gmail.com
Tue Jun 5 15:57:50 EDT 2007


I believe the more training materials the better. OpenSource should be at
least as well documented as restricted software.

TimJowers


On 6/5/07, Magnus <magnus at trilug.org> wrote:
>
> Greg Brown wrote:
> > So, Triluggers, I'm wondering would about the ethics of profiting
> > through writing about a OSS project that you, yourself, had nothing
> > to do with?
>
> It happens all the time.  And I don't think that anyone has cause to
> resent it.
>
> > Say I decide to write a book about any OSS project, say, SSH.  Better
> > yet, what about Small Business Network Management Using OpenNMS.
> > That project is one that is managed locally.  What if I did decide to
> > write such a book?
>
> The only issue I could foresee would be trademark acknowledgment issues
> but that's about it.   IANAL.
>
> > For the purposes of this argument let's say I would keep
> > all the money and not return any to the project (just for the sake of
> > argument, people).
>
> It would be a good gesture to contribute something back to the project
> but I hardly think it is necessary.
>
> Still, the best books on OSS are usually done with the consent and
> participation of the leaders of the project which is being written
> about.  If you're starting out with an adversarial relationship, your
> book may end up less compelling and less technically correct as a result.
>
> > What do you think?  I can't imagine all the OSS related books were
> > blessed by the specific OSS projects yet there seems to be something
> > not quite right about it.
>
> I can't think of any off the top of my head that operated completely
> outside of the informed consent and participation of the project team
> but there might be a few out there.
>
> I honestly don't see anything wrong with it at all.  The fact that it is
> FOSS-licensed shouldn't even enter into it (except when considering
> whether to kick some of the $$ back into the project or not).
> --
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