Re: Writing doc for open source software (was Help Needed -- Build Your Portfolio)

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Quoting eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com:

>> If you look at the situation closer, you've answered your own question. 
> Technical documentation is part of the revenue generating side of the 
> equation. If the documentation was well done and free, there would be 
> little need for training. 

Not necessarily. Many, even most people, would rather have a person help them 
than a manual or a computer.

Not only that, but there's a difference between basic information to get you up 
and running and expertise with a software product. Very few manuals deal with 
expertise, which is why so many third party books are available.

Finally, you may still need to produce custom material for clients with 
specialized needs.

But, still, you're right in the sense that the business model changes. Instead 
of selling intellectual property, in a FLOSS shop you're selling your expertise.


> But, while Bruce writes about OSS, his writing isn't free. (I'm sure Bruce 
> will correct me if I'm wrong.) He gets paid to write articles.

"Free" does not refer to whether you get paid. Some developers get paid to 
write FLOSS code, too. "Free" refers to the availability.

In my own case, after thirty days, the articles that I write for the Linux 
Journal web site are released under the OpenOffice.org Free Documentation 
Licence. That means that they can be copied and expanded, so long as credit is 
preserved. So my writing becomes free. The Linux Journal web site simply has 
exclusive rights for the first month.

Very shortly, the articles will be available on-line at the OOo site. But some 
have already been translated into Portugese, Estonian and Rumanian.

Similarly, when my book is further along, I'll be talking with my editor about 
what sort of free licence is suitable for it.


> How does the techwriter benefit from sharing bits of text and 
> instructions?

Because a lot of things are modular in FLOSS. For example, OpenOffice.org can 
use a MySQL database as a data source. If someone else has written a useful set 
of instructions on how to set up MySQL, why should I duplicate the effort?

> Perhaps I'm just too sceptical. But, I'd like to see how I could make a 
> living giving away my work. And my view seems to be shared by a majority 
> of writers. If it weren't, wouldn't most of the third party books on both 
> Commercial and OSS applications be free?

A lot of them are. My publisher has a number of books published under a free 
licence. So does O'Reilly. It turns out that many people prefer to have the 
hard copy book.

-- 
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604-421.7177

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