Thank you for writing and making your books available. I just wish there was some way I could buy them with UPI.

I did have an option couple of years back, but there were hardly any buyers. So I closed that store instead of spending time in keeping them updated.

All my books are free to read online: https://github.com/learnbyexample/scripting_course#ebooks

Also, you could print to pdf using the markdown source from my GitHub repos or use tools like pandoc to convert markdown to pdf/epub.

>To celebrate the release, the ebook is free till Oct 15. You can get it from Gumroad or Leanpub:

This book is not free before or after 15 October.

Both sites linked require giving up PII in order to obtain the book.

It would be more accurate to say that the book doesn't cost money, not that it's free.

There's a real difference there.

That said, it looks like your book is a good resource. Thank you for writing it.

Edit: Had you included this link (https://learnbyexample.github.io/cli_text_processing_coreuti... ), you could make the claim that it's free.

I do not get your real difference point and I do not wish to argue your point.

Regarding your edit, this post itself points to the web version only (which I also mention in the comment you are replying to): https://learnbyexample.github.io/cli_text_processing_coreuti...

>I do not get your real difference point and I do not wish to argue your point.

Fair enough. I have no argument with you. In fact, I think it's great that you wrote this book. I'm sure it will provide a real benefit to many people. Again, thank you.

That said, the comment to which I replied said:

>(To celebrate the release, the ebook is free till Oct 15. You can get it from Gumroad or Leanpub:*

>* https://learnbyexample.gumroad.com/l/cli_coreutils\*

>* https://leanpub.com/cli_coreutils\*

The sites above are the folks with whom I have an issue, and I did, in fact, note that you make your work available anonymously for free via github.

I think that's great and appreciate your willingness to freely share knowledge and expertise.

My point wasn't about you or your book. Rather, it was about two of the sites (Leanpub and Gumroad) that distribute it.

All that said, my thoughts are orthogonal to the value and utility of your hard work. Again, thank you for doing so.

That’s generally the definition of free, yes. You might have a different definition, but it’s certainly not a common one.

>That’s generally the definition of free, yes. You might have a different definition, but it’s certainly not a common one.

Do you, given the environment of "surveillance capitlism" on the 'net, believe that PII is without value?

I'd posit that if there's an exchange of value (the book for PII), then it's not a "free" transaction.

And you're correct, that's not the "common" definition. However, ISTM that unless we use more precise definitions, we're unlikely to change perceptions around the gathering of PII that would have been far beyond anything the Stasi[0] could have dreamed.

And while my comment appears to have been interpreted as an attack on the author (it wasn't), I still believe it's an important issue to address.

I'd note (as I did in an edit to my original comment) that the author does make all his works available for free (by my use of the word) via github.

I hoped that my comment would spur thought on the part of other HN readers WRT surveillance capitalism.

I suppose you could argue that it's off-topic to reference this, but such activity (by Leanpub and Gumroad, not the author) is becoming so widespread that no one seems to be considering it at all.

That's a mistake in my view. Hence my comment.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi