[10626] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Wed Sep 18 20:25:10 1996
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 18:24:49 -0500 (CDT)
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
O'Reilly press just announced what I believe is the first "beta" book:
"O'Reilly has published the "beta" edition of "JavaScript: The Definitive
Guide" because JavaScript is evolving so rapidly. The next edition of
the book, to be released in the fourth quarter of 1996, will contain
complete information about the 3.0 release of JavaScript..."
This is an interesting development, acknowledging, of course, that book
publishing just can't keep up with the speed of technology development. At the
same time, we don't have a viable alternative to commercial hardcopy publishing.
We already see interesting combinations of hardcopy publishing with online
updates (O'Reilly has done this with some books; Wired magazine uses its online
site HotWired to follow up on the print version; Time magazine has an online
daily edition.)
I've been coming to the conclusion that the future of publishing is in
information services rather than the production of individual information
objects. Some evolution in this direction seems to be happening.
-------------------------------------
Karen Coyle <kec@dla.ucop.edu>
University of California - Library Automation
http://www.dla.ucop.edu/~kec
