Successful open source projects usually don't have a set release date, software like Maven is released when it is ready.

It just seems odd that we have to dance around publisher deadlines when we are writing books about collaborative, unpredictable, schedule-less open source projects.

These days, publishers don't like to commit to books that are not going to move a significant number of copies. It is becoming more and more difficult to sell a good book to a publisher because as the open source world continues to evolve every topic becomes a niche topic with a limited audience.

You don't get a chance to interact, and you certainly don't establish any sort of persistent HTTP 1.1 connection with your readership. Publishers provide some tools to enable this support: forums, blogs, etc. If you've grown used to the "intimacy" and unstructured creative anarchy of open source communities, you'll feel a bit stifled.

But, as an author, you will want to either create that community yourself or (better yet) integrate that community with the community that has already developed around the project you are supporting.

I think authors and open source projects should manage a community of readers.

he goal here is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected.

Blogger outrage over plagiarism and identity concealment in the real world brings up an interesting paradox related to authorship, and that is the simultaneous emphasis on a commitment to authorial authenticity seems untroubled by an equally prevalent dependence on intertextual links, citations, and embedded media. Though bloggers are generally very concerned about giving credit where credit is due (the “Bloggers’ Code of Ethics” cited above lists “Never plagiarize” as its very first precept), for many bloggers—especially those who have an interest in commenting on current events—the ability to cut and paste bits of text, images, and video means that one incorporates an unprecedented amount of material by other authors into one’s own writing. Most blogs are at least partially collage texts, bound together by a blogger’s name, but heavily dependent on citations and excerpts that are effectively intertextual.