Open Source Textbooks Challenge a Paradigm – Flat World Knowledge

A small, digital book startup thinks it has a solution to the age-old student lament: overpriced textbooks that have little value when the course is over. The answer? Make them open source — and give them away.

Flat World Knowledge is the brainchild of two former textbook industry executives who learned from the inside about the wacky economy of textbooks.

In a nutshell, there is a huge, inelastic demand for college texts, even though textbook prices are high. Because of this there is a lot of piracy and a robust secondary market for textbooks — but not for long, because they are updated every couple of years, rendering old editions virtually worthless.

Flat World Knowledge http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/

By Chris Snyder

Full Story: http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/09/open-source-tex.html