Creating a (printed) book out of KDE documentation

[Waldo Bastian]

> Me and Jos=C3=A9 Pires would get 5% each of the book cover price,
> which I'd like to be low, (at most 20=E2=82=AC, 15=E2=82=AC would be grea=
t).
> We would probably donate some part of it to some free software
> related organization, but forget about that: I'd also like to hear
> your comments about the ethical issues involving making money
> out the i18n process.

I think there is a mutual beneficial relationship possible between free=20
software developers on one hand and commercial activities on the other. The=
=20
rules for such a relationship are pretty much set out by the applicable=20
license. Activities such a publishing CDs, selling support or selling books=
=20
often work better in the form of a commercial activitity since they require=
=20
financial investments. Although the goal of a commercial activity is to mak=
e=20
profit, it can at the same time also be beneficial for KDE as a project by=
=20
generating more exposure for KDE or by fullfilling a need wrt KDE that woul=
d=20
be hard to do in a non-commercial form.

As long as making money out of the i18n process also brings benefits to KDE=
=20
then I see no ethical problems with it. You already mentioned some points a=
nd=20
I agree with you that those would indeed be beneficial for KDE. Also, since=
=20
you are yourself involved in translations it would be beneficial for KDE if=
=20
you could continue doing so by making money from it in the process.

It should be clear though that although KDE may share some interests with a=
=20
commerical entity, it will not share _all_ interests. In particular KDE=20
should IMO not be interested in making money itself nor should it IMO be=20
concerned with the ability of others to make money. For example, the questi=
on=20
whether e.g. SuSE or e.g. theKompany or, in this case, you will be able to =
be=20
profitable should not be a concern of KDE. That's solely the repsonsibility=
=20
of SuSE, resp. the Kompany, resp. you.

Cheers,
Waldo
=2D-=20
bastian@kde.org