Open source textbooks could theoretically be better than paid but generally speaking the big problem is that there usually isn't enough people to actually "care

Open source textbooks could theoretically be better than paid but generally speaking the big problem is that there usually isn't enough people to actually "care" for the book so to speak. Eventually the original writers lose interest and move on. For other open source books...they end up only becoming half written....and then turn into abandonware....see wikibooks. You could solve the problem with something like a wiki but I've seen that usually results in quality problems. It isn't like a wiki article where all the results can basically see what has been written. With a wikibook though...you need all writers to basically know where stuff has already been explained...otherwise you just get a bunch of people explaining x here and then other people explaining the same thing in a later chapter.