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I've seen several people mention that kindle downloads are not available in their country. Has anyone contacted the Prof Fox about this? |
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I emailed Prof Fox and this is the information I received. we've tried to maximize book availability, though we recognize the current book distribution will not reach 100% of the students. at this time we don't plan to make the book available for free. we realize that the course is quite fast-paced and we spent a lot of time and effort designing the book to go along with the course. we hope to reach as many students as we can with it, and we regret if we can't reach them all. there is indeed a lot of material online that will be of help, and we provide pointers to much of it in the book FAQ at saasbook.info. unfortunately at this point there aren't any other ebook sales venues that relieve us of handling the mechanics of sales. we're investigating additional distribution options for the beta version. |
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Not at all worried after finding out this is yet another Rails course. I am looking forward to compare this with other introductory Rails books I have read or am currently reading: Rails 3 Tutorial by Hartl (online edition is free btw), Rails 3 in Action, Agile Web Development with RoR 4e Update: After going through the contents for up to chapter 5, I am pretty sure that anyone who has worked through at least one of the books I mentioned on rails and grappled with the necessary environment configuration and troubleshooting etc, would already know well beyond the scope of the course material, and would be able to breeze through the course, at least for the Rails-related portions. |
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We are actively working, right now, as you read this, on a way to get copies to people in countries that cannot purchase the book, even if it means paying the shipping ourselves. We also wish this were not an issue, but we have been spending our time trying to create good content for software engineering and have not had the time to take on this issue yet. If we are able to figure out a way to make this work given US tax regulations, we will make instructions available for how to take advantage of it if you are located in one of those countries. To folks who believe we should be giving the book away for free or paying them to review it, I'm sorry to disappoint you. (And if you really think offering this course is our way to "advertise" the book, I assure you there would be ways to "advertise" that did not require the hundreds of hours of extra work required to make the materials for this course.) 3
@Armando Fox - thanks again for being so responsive. I like to think that the vast majority of concerns is about availability rather than cost. |
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It is ridiculous that having Kindle issues (aka it is not available!) in so many countries, and being this an "alpha" version (meaning you will have to get two more to have a somewhat-completed book) there is no other way to get it, and that no other books are listed as alternatives. @Daniela: I don't think this is illegal, and at any rate, @AlNeko is trying to pay for the book, sold exclusively through a company who could not care less about consumers in many parts of the world. That said, I fully agree with your view: This is an "alpha" book, about things that are all over the Internet, so maybe we should be doing some research on alternative titles. Someone (sorry, missed your handle) mentioned this: http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book?version=3.2#top Looking at it now (it's free) Pablo 1
So far it seems a bit like an advertisement campaign for the book. It was one of the first things they said in the new lessons: "Oh, read the book." This didn't sound like a suggested reading, but more like "You won't be able to follow the class without the book", which would pretty much hurt Coursera's credibility regarding their credo on http://www.coursera.org/landing/hub.php : "We are committed to making the best education in the world freely available to any person who seeks it." Yes it is illegal on many grounds. I don't like that, but I don't write the laws. Please read carefully the Kindle contract, please also look up USA laws about impersonation (can you imagine the OP going to a conference in USA?). Also, see my other answer above. If they are trying to sell a rails book through the course, it will have to be very very good. The competition is fairly stiff 1
My thoughts exactly. Even before the course contents are out, here they are with the "buy my book! Only $9.99!!". Of course, so they don't fall on the next tier for Kindle. Then the beta, then the final. I feel they could have used a more subtle approach I'll watch their class first and then decide whether I want to buy the book (presumably hard-copy) afterwards. I also bought AI: A Modern Approach after the class was over, because I got a good impression about it and Peter Norvig during the course. I prefer hard copy, because I can a) lend it to a friend b) sell and buy second-hand c) borrow it in a library d) scribble my notes on the pages e) copy some pages, if I don't want to hurt the book by scribbling my notes on the pages f) read it during an power-outage g) still read it when Amazon goes bankrupt h) still read it when Amazon decides 'not to support those old twothousandteens versions any more'. Oh, in addition, long-lasting good books bind carbonate in a sustainable way, thus working against climate change, unless somebody decides to burn them... ;) It is not recommended to buy hard copies of rail books because they tend to get outdated pretty quickly (3.0 is "old", 3.1 is on its way to that category) |
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Check out Prof. Armando Fox's latest blog post regarding the ebook problem and other issues that have brought lively discussions recently: http://www.armandofox.com/geek/2012/02/ready-set-doh/ The saas-class team is arguably the best by now. They have a concrete plan, provide instant and elaborate response, and do keep their promises. The blog entry is interesting. "It turns out that when you have 60,000 people enrolled, if 0.1% of them experience a problem, you’ll immediately get 60 identical emails." As someone who tries to keep his InBox empty, I can feel his pain. ;-) |
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Some clarifications: The problem is that using TOR, proxy, VPN, is equivalent to going in US, buy the book, then go back to your country, so Amazon can't delete the book, because in that case they violate the contract, unless the contract specify also that you can lease a book but you can read it only when you are in some countries. About the leases of ebook if you go on amazon.com page you can see in kindle market that there's a button that say buy not lease. Now I don't know how works in USA, but in EU, if you write buy you are obliged to sell by the law. If amazon want to lease a book it have to write lease instead of buy in the site page, otherwise it's fraud. |
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It would be really good to have an alternative option, like an ePub-file or something:
(taken from an unofficial kindle blog) That's more than one third of the world population, by the way. Kindle content is available in Canada. Population wise that doesn't chip into your percentage calculation too much ;-) I just realized that's information from 2009. So I guess there'll be more countries now. I'd prefer an open standard, though. |
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Daniela, On 3: that's incorrect. In most countries is OK to use a proxy to access a site. Maybe Iran or China are good counterexamples, but at any rate, their witch hunt is targeted to political dissent, not about people breaking Amazon's terms of usage to get a computer book. On 4: Not if you don't keep a connection to them, of if you export the content after buying it. Again, it may be against their terms of use, but I don't see they going after a user in, say, Pakistan. This all boils down to how much OP may care about breaching Amazon's terms of usage. And, at any rate, last time Amazon deleted pirated copies of a book (no less that Wells' "1984"!), Jeff Bezos had to issue an apology If you have any specifics, then point to them, otherwise don't spread FUD. Thank you, Pablo Please Pablo reread the list of countries. The very fact you dismiss Iran + China as marginal examples, says it all. As for Pakistan, please can someone confirm it's possible to copy for academic study / research and for personal use? I believe that's the law. So, no, they won't go after someone in Pakistan, especially given that the Pakistani courts will tell Amazon.com to take a hike and pay the expenses. Guess what? Pakistan is in the list of the countries that they won't sell to! If the OP really wants, he might order a hard copy of the book, if necessary by having a third-party sending it to him/her (I don't think it's worth the bother and expense for an alpha edition). But that's not the advice he received. Now, please, since you are advocating that the OP commits a crime (= does something illegal which may ruin his/her life) for a very stupid reason, perhaps you can explain us all how you would prove in court what exactly you were doing on the privacy-armored internet. Let me remind you that people have been condamned to death and executed for e.g. claims of child porn which were not proven beyond any doubt. Do you seriously think your story that you were on TOR to pay for a draft version of a book about software, is believable? Methinks it will not be very helpful. In fact I've got doubts it would be helpful in the USA, if police gets suspicious about you for whatever reasons. Have you ever been to Malaysia? Indonesia? Singapore? Bahrain? I think NOT. 1
IMO, this is becoming more and more out of topic, I don't think this is the right place to discuss legal issues. @rhasarub You're right, the fact it's that I believe in free culture, free education, etc... and I really hate this kind of restriction based on country :) I agree with rhasarub. Daniela, I let you keep fearing in peace! BTW, where are you from? |
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Someone have tried with using a proxy server or TOR network forcing the exit on US server? Please. Don't even dream about it. It is illegal and a crime, in USA and very likely in Your country too. Moreover You would have no way of proving what you were doing on TOR exactly, and thus You could face prosecution for very serious offences. Please, go in front of a mirror, and state how You were using TOR - both for strong anonymization and for falsification purposes - in order to be able to pay 9.99$ for the privilege of correcting an "alpha edition" of a book, whose subject is discussed elsewhere; all this in order to study for a "virtual class" on the internet. Then imagine having to do that in court. Remember, when police knocks on Your door, You'll be on your own. Except perhaps for someone in USA signing a resentful letter insulting the Court and Your country, a letter which of course, the judges will not be pleased with. Chances are Kindle does not lease ebooks to Your country precisely because laws in Your country allow reproduction of books for study, research, and personal use. @daniela The solution I illustrated is the one used by people who want to pay for a product, instead of download it from pirate's site or P2P networks. As far as I know, using TOR is not illegal in the US (although SOPA might have had that little side effect...). There might be countries where it is illegal or blocked, but using it for simple anonymization or accessing servers in other countries should not be illegal if you don't use it for a criminal purpose. To access US Amazon, it's also possible to use a simple VPN connection to an US server, which is not illegal either. It might violate their Terms of Service, of course, but I haven't read them, so I don't know about this. Apart from that, it should mainly be an issue of customs. If I take a plane to the US, buy something, and take it home, I might have to pay taxes. But it's usually not illegal, unless it is military technology or something. Or would Kindle delete all my ebooks as soon as I cross the border? Then Amazon's business practice would seem highly disputable to me (it does, anyway). AINeko is not talking about pirating the ebook, but about buying it (by somewhat unconventional means...). Making a copy for personal use and study, may or may not be legal or illegal, it depends on the jurisdiction. But the suggestion of bypassing Amazon's restriction is a very bad idea. See also my other answer. |
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Wait a minute.
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or 
Yeah. I'm from Indonesia, and I can't buy Kindle ebooks. I can't buy the print version either, because it's too expensive. Seems like I have to drop the course or taking it without reading textbook. :(
@PatrixCR have you asked the professor about it? He might have some suggestions or solutions if he is made aware of the problem.
@PatrixCR: I took both AI class and ML class without a textbook, and it wasn't a big problem because there's plenty of resources available on the internet. Wikipedia alone can help you out in most of the cases, and people post on Aiqus, of course, what they know from the books. I don't think you should drop the class ;)
@rhasarub yeah, but I'd love to buy the ebook. It's more in-depth for sure.