[LINK] Twenty Years of the Net in Australia

[Tom Worthington]

Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> Tom Worthington wrote:
>>> ... Unfortunately AARNet decided not to make their book about the
>>> Internet available via the Internet. ...
> 
> It's not a for-profit exercise. I would imagine that the book is a
> net cost; a little cost recovery on books sold is hardly
> reprehensible. ...

Presumably AARNet commissioned the book to promote its good name. To 
then limit the distribution to the tiny number of people who will read 
the printed book largely negates that effort.

> Have you tried selling ads lately? ...

I get about one cent for every four page views on my web site. For the 
AARnet book that would produce several thousand dollars a year.

> But I digress - we don't know, for  example, whether the contract
> with the author commissioned to write the book would permit give-away
> copies. ...

It is likely the author would accept a small additional payment to
cover lost sales from online distribution. They may well accept the
argument that online distribution would increase their commission on 
print sales, particularly if the book was sold gloabally online via 
print on demand.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/people.php?StaffID=140274