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It seems to me that, especially with India, there's a big question which nobody is asking. When foreign companies can't or won't supply the market at a suitabl
by regularfry 15y ago
It seems to me that, especially with India, there's a big question which nobody is asking. When foreign companies can't or won't supply the market at a suitable price, where is the local replacement? Why isn't this being fixed by local competition? India outpopulates the US four to one - is it credible that Indian engineers and publishers are somehow incapable of producing output that is to the same, or better, standard as that from the US at a price more commensurate with the local market?
- dhruvbird 15y agoWe do have something called "Indian Low Price Edition" http://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22indian+subcontinent%22+%22low+price+edition%22 http://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22indian+subcontinent%22+%22low+pr... but not all titles are available for whatever reason. Mostly, these are books used as texts in schools & colleges. Another note: An LPE of a book that is available for INR ~500 would cost anywhere from INR ~4000 to ~6000 if the original publication is ordered. Generally the original is not stocked so there is a wait period of ~5 weeks from placing the order.
- regularfry 15y agoSure, but that's imported content again. It's reliant on the foreign publishers deigning to think it worthwhile. Is the existence of LPEs enough to prevent the growth of a market in indigenous content?
- reitblatt 15y agoThese are non-fungible goods.
- regularfry 15y agoIn specific, yes. In general, I don't understand why, to pick an arbitrary example, O'Reilly gets a free pass as a go-to publisher on technical content, or why academic textbooks should be imported by default. Put another way: why isn't there yet an Indian publisher with the status of O'Reilly, whose books we're all desperate to get our hands on?
- pm90 15y agoI think there are a variety of factors: 0) Many of the best computer engineers emigrate to US, where they do publish nice books. 1) US based developers often work with really good and experienced professionals (or at least learn from them). 2) US professionals are educated in a system that greatly encourages the "German Style" of textbook writing: clear, concise and to the point. This was started by the great mathematicians and physicists in Germany, who then came over to the US; the people who started writing computer books knew a great style and built upon it. In contrast most Indian books are heavy on facts, low on insight, examples are crappy, typeset quality is terrible, many errors etc. 3) Most importantly, there just aren't that many excellent developers in India. A large chunk of the "computer engineers" are mostly doing grunt work that does not require much innovation. What will they write about? 4) Most Indian computer engineers work very long shifts; they don't get enough free time to try out and learn a new technology "in their free time" because there is no free time. Less people using a technology means that there is less expertise, less adoption. All of that adds up to a great inertia
- keithpeter 15y agoThat had occurred to me as well. Back in the 80s we had Pergamon Press, started by Robert Maxwell of subsequent ill-fame. He located experts in eastern European countries, paid them to write university level texts on science and aspects of technology, paid an English speaking academic to check the translation of the texts and published the editions quite cheap. I think it helped that Maxwell actually bought a printing company. I worked through a lot of Landau and Lifshitz's volumes on theoretical physics that way, including the imfamous footnote on shockwaves in rock (think nuclear tests).
- keithpeter 15y agoThat had occurred to me as well. Back in the 80s we had Pergamon Press, started by Robert Maxwell of subsequent ill-fame. He located experts in eastern European countries, paid them to write university level texts on science and aspects of technology, paid an English speaking academic to check the translation of the texts and published the editions quite cheap. I think it helped that Maxwell actually bought a printing company. I worked through a lot of Landau and Lifshitz's volumes on theoretical physics that way, including the imfamous footnote on shockwaves in rock (think nuclear tests). So where are all the Indian/Pakistani authors?