"The number of universities that will be using any of its free textbooks as a required text this fall is only 38.
Without a full range of outstanding textbooks, Freeload will remain nothing more than a concept with dubious prospects. It can’t sign up the authors it needs to expand its offerings because professors balk at the juxtaposition of “Solution to Demonstration Problem” on one page and an ad for a double bacon cheeseburger and fries on the next. The example is not hypothetical."
The author of the article suggests that a more likely model in future will be electronic texts that are not free, but at a highly reduced price in compared to their hardcopy version. The textbooks that I, Professor Fields and Share have authored are going down this path--the second editions will be available soon through Norton as "e-texts" for far less than the paper versions. Will these kinds of textbooks have many takers? Or are the physical properties of a textbook still more attractive? I think we'll see in the coming years.Tags:
