Frankly, I look at this message and wonder what the point of offering feedback to bb is. He has made it clear that he will keep the source, and offer no support contract (which would be unfeasible anyway without some sort of profit model). In short, if you all work on this and it turns out great, you only have the software until it breaks and bb is no longer around, for whatever reason. Changing platforms guarantee that all software will break in time. Of course bb is free to do what he likes with his code, I just do not see how it is to the advantage of anyone here to help. For the record, I do think the cause of light weight markup is a good one (I use asciidoc myself), and that there is room for a tool more oriented towards ebook authoring. In conclusion, I want to encourage bb to open his code up, providing better value for all. Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone ----- Reply message ----- From: Bowerbird@aol.com Date: Mon, Feb 21, 2011 2:18 pm Subject: [gutvol-d] Re: time after time To: <gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org>, <bowerbird@aol.com> bastien said:

Can you share some usable code?

you've been around long enough to know the answer to that. so, am i going to just hand over all my code to my enemies -- the mean people who called me names for many years, and said that what i was suggesting was "impossible" -- so they can use my code against me, for their own agenda, once they decided -- as indeed, they have now decided -- that i was totally correct all along, and that the only viable workflow for project gutenberg is to use light markup? no. no. a thousand times no. and throw in a "screw you" too. am i willing to help guide people who are willing to work one-tenth as hard as i have? well, yes, i most certainly am. will i allow these people to be stuck for any period of time, follow an unproductive path, or otherwise waste their time? no, absolutely not. that's what a guide is for -- to _guide_. will i provide code fragments to these people so that they can see how it was done, even if they cannot use the code directly, because it's in basic, and they use something else? yes i positively will, without any hesitation at all. even deeper, will i explain carefully just exactly _why_ that approach to the code is the very best one to take, and why other perspectives are flawed in one way or another? yes, again, i will indeed provide such careful explanations. am i going to give you a bucket of fish? no, i'm not. am i willing to teach you how to go fishing? yes, i am. -bowerbird