Mechandising electronic texts

JR Gardner jgardner at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu
Fri Feb 28 17:44:18 UTC 1997


Thanks to J. Martinez Garcia for the price list on the "potentially"
pirated e-texts.  Is no one as yet aware of this company, as to what
proofing they did, who worked on this stuff, how long, etc?  
If it is pirated material, of course, it would explain why no one in
Indology was called upon to proof them (or why the culprit[s] sit[s]
silent).

Whether or not this is the case, perhaps the purveyor of these
disks might wish to circulate them to several of us who do e-texts for
additional proofing in return--at the very least--for an editorial credit
(I think the days of making money on Sanskrit e-texts are distant, if not
altogether a chimera).  

Someone was bound to publish this stuff, and so be it that H. Boessow
does.  I know that the Lehman/Ananthanarayan ZBM at my web site (NB:
http://vedavid.org is "off the air" until it's author finishes his
dissertation .. .or at least gets a few dollars to re-register the domain 
name!) is deliberately incomplete (sans 12th adhyaaya) for
copyright protection reasons. However--to have a well-proofed ZB e-text,
with 12 intact, is still more valueable than a few beers worth of
royalties (if that) over the next year or two.  Editorial credit would be
better-- a group solicitation from interested parties might be mounted to
Herr Boessow? 

Either way, someone should buy these disks--or better still,
request an evaluation copy ;-), and assemble a handful of folks to proof
them.  I've been trying to beg a copy, lately, of a JB e-text for STRICTLY
personal use, and I can quite understand increasing reticence in sharing
due to this.  I just hope that doesn't happen.  Our discipline is
enlivened by sharing in good faith.  Accordingly, if we share taking
action on this e-text/piracy matter, the same benefits accrue.

While I was in India visiting various computer firms I was 
overwhelmed by how potentially redundant many of the very valuable and
important current indological internet/computer efforts are. It is an
intrinsic fact of the internet that progress comes through sharing of
ideas, rather than keeping them until near-completion (as the normal
publishing regimen would indicate--having only a select team review the
work .. . ).  Perhaps this event -- whether evil has been done or not --
can catalyze a collaborative computer team of researchers in indology and,
perhaps, beyond . . . 

jrg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Robert Gardner                      Obermann Center
School of Religion                         for Advanced Studies
University of Iowa                       University of Iowa
319-335-2164                             319-335-4034

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is ludicrous to consider language as anything other 
than that of which it is the transformation.

On Fri, 28 Feb 1997, Fco. Javier Martnez Garca wrote:

> JG> today I received an offer from a company in Munich (H. Boessow PARK
> JG> GmbH, Widmannstr. 11a, 81829 Muenchen) which sells the following
> JG> electronic Sanskr.& Pali texts on disks at prices between 20,- and
> JG> 150,- DM:
> 
> Prices are as follows:
> Rgveda  40,- DM
> Satapathabrahmana 50,- DM
> Mahabharata 100,- DM
> Ramayana 60,- DM
> Pali-Kanon 150,- DM
> Arthasastra 50,- DM
> Manusmrti 50,- DM
> Brhatsamhita 50,- DM
> Buddhacarita 20,- DM
> 
> Complete package ("ca. 20 HD-disks") 500,- DM
> 
> 
> I agree with Dominik:
> DW> I can only suggest that the copyright holders of the
> DW> files being distributed should write to the errant company, 
> DW> and try to negotiate royalty terms.  If that fails, the sue
> DW> the pants off them!
> 
> J.M.
> 
> -- 
>   Dr. Fco. Javier Martmnez Garcma ~ Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft
>   Universitdt Frankfurt  ~   Postfach 11 19 32  ~  D-60054 Frankfurt
>   tel. +49- 69- 7982-2847;  (sekr.) -3139  ~ fax. +49- 69- 7982-2873
>   e-mail: martinez at em.uni-frankfurt.de
> 
> 
> 








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