[Wikipedia-l] Any plans for "WikiBook"??

Mon Mar 31 18:35:21 UTC 2003

Ray Saintonge wrote:

> As much as I support the underlying concepts of this proposal, I 
> believe it has to wait until the "foundation" is in place.  This will 
> be a modest revenue generating venture which will need to have a place 
> to deposit its money, and will also need to manage costs related to 
> producing printed books.  Those costs can be significant. 
> Besides the obvious benefit of having the Wikipedia available to a 
> larger audience, physical publication will also be helpful in 
> guaranteeing that the open licence nature of Wikipedia is protected 
> for a long time after the present contributors are gone.  Being able 
> to produce a printed text at that time will be prima facie proof that 
> the person using it cannot legally override the open licence with his 
> own copyright.
>
> In short: a great idea but still premature. 

Thanks for the complement, but I think the guys at FSF who created FDL, 
had something like this in mind already.
from your reply I was felt you were suggesting Wiki printing books. I 
realize such an idea is "premature" at present, but if in my proposal on 
my website( www.geocities.com/abioommen ), you will see that I am not 
suggesting that Wiki print the books, but provide mailing lists to 
interested editors to work together and once their work is good, I'm 
sure publishing houses will themselves print the books. And since it 
must remain under FDL, these books will be relatively much cheaper.
Please read my proposal( its still in  executive summary stage) and tell 
me what you think of it.
--Abhishek
PS:Sorry I'm replying so late, my mail client was malfunctioning