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By shiva7663 on
Has anyone figured out a way to soften the financial impact of the fast development cycle time of Drupal obsoleting expensive books over and over as each new version is released? Do any of the publishers offer update subscriptions or something?
Comments
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stuff in D6 books is still relevant just as stuff in D5 books is still relevant to D6.
I purchase my material @ the beginning of a release cycle. When D7 is released as stable and books become available, I'll purchase them, which gives them 18 - 24 months of life based on past releases
eBooks
If you buy the eBook, it's not as expensive and you don't have to figure out what to do with an obsolete book.
Also, I agree with the other poster. Just because it's for one version doesn't mean nothing applies to the next. Some parts may change radically but there's quite a bit that's been the same since the 4.x days.
Michelle
This is not just a Drupal
This is not just a Drupal issue. It concerns all technical books and especially software books.
I have been working in the publishing industry (the dead trees kind) for long, and it is considered common sense that most books on specific software products have a life span of 1-2 years. The more theoretical ones have a little longer.
A tech book may resemble a Charles Dickens book which you have for 50 years, but it is an entirely different kind of product. You publish it when there is time to sell it (and you charge more to compensate for the limited lifespan), you buy it when there is time to use it, you throw it away when there is not enough use left in it.
The problem is more serious for site upgrades (much more money and time involved), and probably as a result of this (developer involvement with new releases) the release cycle seem to have been extended lately.
Personally, I think the way
Personally, I think the way Drupal upgrades matters. If I have understood correctly, it is not
a point and click procedure. Like for example, Firefox is. Current firefox is a complex
script, the file size of it is more than Drupal perhaps.
Upgrading it is so easy, and it still preserves the data like thousands of bookmark, addresses etc
or allows point and click import.
Most of the add-ons also either work nicely backwards or have the same easy point and click upograde.
While older books may still contain some or many relevant data there are significant additions or KEY changes in api, the ways module work which necessitates that one must buy the new book if book
is something one needs to go by.
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all changes in core are documented and you don't need a book for them therefore that point of yours is moot.
I should add some estimates
I should add some estimates of mine:
- Drupal 7 code freeze has been set for Sept 1, 2009
- A Drupal 7 release will come out probably in early spring 2010
- Some remaining important modules will be updated in the next months
- Drupal 7 will be fully usable for most people probably in summer or autumn 2010
- Besides the new sites, most people wait at least 6 months or so after the release before starting to upgrade their existing sites.
- Most probably Drupal 6 will be supported until 2012.
Do you think that authors and
Do you think that authors and publishers will start to abandon D6 books after the D7 code freeze or after the D7 release?
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I'd doubt publishers would pull books until D6 is no longer a viable release. (unsupported) which wouldn't happen until the release of D8
Probably they won't be
Probably they won't be planning any new D6 books. Some of the existing ones may be reprinted if out of stock according to demand. Hard to say... Besides the general public there are schools, workshops and other special customers somewhere in the world, which will need them at least until a stable D7 *and* books are out. It is a matter of number crunching.
But it is unlikely that they will have D6 and D7 books in the stores at the same time.