According to amazon.com, today (6 July 2007) marks the publishing of the 2nd edition of the Official Ubuntu Book.
I purchased the first edition, read it cover to cover and highly recommend it.
In fact, I value it so highly that I want to make it available online in the Edubuntu lab that I run for the local primary school. As the book is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License (http://creativecommons.org/about/lic...t-the-licenses) , it is legal, and I presume even encouraged.
However, I can't find a freely downloadable pdf version on the web. A Chinese site which briefly offered it along with some unauthorized downloads still shows up on google, but seems to be shut down.
I know that Chapters 3, 6 and 7 are included with the desktop CD of Ubuntu, but it is not the same as the whole book.
Jono Bacon, one of the authors, urged his blog readers to buy the book rather than copy it when the first edition came out last year. http://www.jonobacon.org/?p=741. I agree with his sentiments, but what is the point of publishing the book under a liberal license if you don't make the "source code" available somehow?
The Official Ubuntu Book has clearly been a great success, as proven by the appearance of the 2nd edition. I would like to see the full text of the first edition on help.ubuntu.com now.
Anyone who can help?
Hendrik Boshoff
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