Interviste Copertina Firewall

Interviste

Interview to Andy Oram from O'Reilly (Part II)

• Q: So, you had contacts also with other publishers. Were they collaborative? Did you find any difference in the relationship with them while talking about Linux rather than other OS?
  
  
• A: Actually, I never talked directly to other publishers about what they were doing. But it's true that I worked with CD-ROM vendors (and even SLS, selling Linux on diskette before there WERE any CD-ROM vendors!) and found that quite pleasant, even though some of them sold books that weren't ours. Our strongest collaboration is with Red Hat Software; for a while we were selling their Linux distribution in bookstores, but we couldn't keep up with the pace of their new releases. Most of the people in the LDP wanted to work first and foremost with us. Matt Welsh, leader of the LDP for a long while, was very pleased that I contacted him.
  
  
• Q: The Linux community sometimes reacts in a strange way when commercial companies start to look at Linux. Did you experiment that?
  
  
• A: I find that more true of the Free Software Foundation. We've had many contacts with the FSF, but since RMS has fundamental philosophical beliefs about openness of information (the word "freedom" is a bit overloaded), the FSF never wanted to give us much help in producing books that were under a standard copyright and couldn't be freely distributed. They're certainly entitled to that approach; there are many appealing things about that philosophy. But the Linux community was always more pragmatic; whether it comes to commercial software or commercial books, they're willing to see value in it. I've heard Linus himself say that applications are good areas for commercial development, even if the operating system is free. And I've never heard anyone complain to Matt Welsh or any of my other authors that they decided to publish a standard copyrighted book with us.

  Our hopes and goals were confirmed when Bill sent mail to Linus, asking what he would think of our book. Linus responded ``I'd be delighted by a book covering linux, and it being from O'Reilly would certainly be nice.'' We couldn't imagine a better footing on which to start off a project.
  
  

• Q: So, what was your first book?
  
  
• A: Our first Linux book was an existing LDP book--the NAG. I just loved that book, and I wanted Olaf on board. We made lots of changes, and donated them all to the LDP so our help could enhance the free version. But sales were hurt because the book could be printed and sold much more cheaply than our "quality" version.
  
  
• Q: Again, how did O'Reilly editors and managers react to this?
  
  
• A: We were still happy to have the book, which was highly respected. We certainly didn't lose money; I think it was a financially sound decision. But we encourage authors to copyright their books because that's the only way we can support the big infrastructure of editors, artists, copy-editors, and other people who (after all) make a book better than the original author could make it by himself or herself.
  
  
• Q: Anyway, things went better with the next book.
  
  
• A: Meanwhile, I kept combing the Linux community for talent. Matt Welsh eventually said he wanted to write a book for us--a new one, not a rehash of the Installation & Getting Started Guide. I gave him pretty much carte blanche, along with Lar Kaufman. They did a wonderful job, and I contributed a chapter or two also. The book sold very well, even when other companies entered. Their books, as usual, were superficial and exploitative. With thick bindings and bundled CDs (always out of sync with the contents of the books) they attracted novices but were roundly trashed on the Linux newsgroups, where Matt's book was highly praised.

  We're working on a third edition now. Unfortunately, Matt has finished his doctorate and has new responsibilities which preclude his working on the book; Lar plans to do the new edition alone.
  
  

• Q: What about "Linux in a Nutshell"?
  
  
• A: I was a bit afraid to start that project, and my fears proved to be well-founded. The GNU versions of tools are just so much richer in features than the standard ones, that it takes a lot of work to research each one (just think of diff, for example) and write up the differences. I was actually laid up for a while during this project, because I was hit by a car. (I recovered fully, no flowers are necessary.) So the book bounced around among a couple editors and writers; luckily I took a firm hold of it again and we got excellent help from a technical support person at O'Reilly named Steve Figgins. I think the result is quite up to our standards - it just took a lot of time and no small amount of fingernail-biting.
  
  
• Q: And the future?
  
  
• A: I don't know where to turn next for books, really. We've considered one on graphical tools and Website development tools for Linux, but we're skeptical because our Linux Multimedia Guide isn't doing all that well. Since Linux is becoming the mainstream UNIX, our Linux and UNIX product lines are merging; there may not be a need for more Linux-specific books.
  
  
• Q: At the end, do you think it was a good idea to get in touch with Linux?
  
  
• A: It was absolutely necessary! We have a reputation to preserve in the UNIX arena, and Linux is an important part of UNIX now. At work, at home, wherever - people who like UNIX or want an OS they can muck around with are flocking to Linux. We'd be abandoning our users if we didn't have a strong Linux series.
  
  
• Q: Last question. Do O'Reilly employees use Linux during their work-days?
  
  
• A: Yes, although only here and there. Like our readers, we're being inevitably drawn into the Microsoft world. A lot of people in our customer base have started using PCs - I spend a good part of each day on a PC running Windows. Also, most of our staff who use UNIX are happy hanging their X-terms off of a Solaris system, the standard corporate configuration. But we've got some people doing development work on Linux, and we've had a news server and a Web server on Linux systems at times. We use it where we find it convenient to have a personal system that gives the intelligent user total control - I think that sums up what Linux is good for.

End of part two

di Stefano Campadello

Interviste Copertina Firewall