From: jcoffin{at}taeus.com
To: c_echo{at}yahoogroups.com

At 11:57 PM 7/31/2003 +0100, you wrote:

[ ... ]

>BB> Good heavens, Charles! What has that to do with the price
>BB> of bread? I am not in the least concerned with Bob's
>BB> business practices. It's none of my business. It is between
>BB> him and his client.
>
>It was until Bob explained it in detail here which implies he
>is looking for input. Y/N?

Bob did not ask for input on his business practices, but merely for anybody
who might know how to contact the author of a book.  You responded with
little short of accusations of his attempting to steal the book -- despite
the fact that his only real reason to contact the author is to attempt to
compensate him for his work.  If Bob's intent was to use it without giving
credit, he'd have had no reason to post here in the first place.

>That wasn't what I was saying. I was referring to what it
>_seemed_ to me, based on Bob's description, that Bob's
>employers were after - full documentation.

...which, obviously, is why Bob wants copies of the book itself
available.  My guess is that his document would give specific
recommendations, referring to the book as to why those recommendations make
sense.

It all comes back to economics: he can either reproduce the book or he can
reproduce the work that went into the book.  Reproducing the book itself is
almost certainly less expensive (in fact, the whole reason most technical
books are written at all is to avoid reproducing the work that went into them).

>Sorry if I was a bit terse. I really did get a bit ticked at
>being asked to explain why I recommended that Bob update his
>'source' and choose an American author (that would be easy to
>purchase books from if you are in the USA where Bob is - I
>think?). I'm sick of all this PC twinkle-toes can't say
>Americans are any good at anything anymore cr*p.

Nobody said otherwise -- in fact, for better or worse, an awful lot of
really good books on programming do seem to have the US as their source --
frequently the authors and publishers are both American.  Nonetheless,
there are also excellent programmers, authors, etc., in other parts of the
world as well.  Taking the nationality of the author or publisher as a
recommendation for or against a book seems nonsensical to me.

>I was feeling old and grouchy I guess.

You may have been feeling old and grouchy, but it seems to me that you
acted childish and silly.
         Later,
         Jerry.

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