Good times, good times!

November 21, 2006 7:05 AM

Autodidactic goodies on a budget: Free computer books and online lectures, seminars and instructional materials from a variety of renowned institutions.
posted by Blazecock Pileon (19 comments total)

Thanks!

I was surprised to find actual content at those sites. The visual design of both is so amazingly similar to typical spam/SEO/squatter garbage that I nearly dismissed them both without actually reading a word.
posted by majick at 7:18 AM on November 21, 2006

There seem to be links to copyrighted CD libraries too.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:25 AM on November 21, 2006

Holy shit--thanks!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:27 AM on November 21, 2006

I was surprised to find actual content at those sites. The visual design of both is so amazingly similar to typical spam/SEO/squatter garbage that I nearly dismissed them both without actually reading a word.

That's because they are SEO spam sites. Linking to lots of content like that makes Google like you. It's similar to how people cloak entire copies of Wikipedia under their domain name to increase organic search hits.
posted by public at 7:38 AM on November 21, 2006

(Not to say that it isn't a rather handy pile of links to free stuff of course!)
posted by public at 7:39 AM on November 21, 2006

This is really extensive and really good. Thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 7:44 AM on November 21, 2006

Jeez, that's a resource. Thanks!
posted by ob at 7:45 AM on November 21, 2006

Gee, thanks for a front page post to a site that's pointing to other sites that are blatantly violating copyrights to get ad revenue... just what MeFi and the Web need.
posted by jzb at 9:50 AM on November 21, 2006

Oooh, yum yum! Don't forget Wikibooks.
posted by XMLicious at 11:08 AM on November 21, 2006

...a site that's pointing to other sites that are blatantly violating copyrights to get ad revenue...

Uh, isn't that what MeFi itself is? ;^)
posted by XMLicious at 11:10 AM on November 21, 2006

...sites that are blatantly violating copyrights to get ad revenue...

The items that I tried clicking on at freecomputerbooks.com were all links to external websites. No copyright violation involved.
posted by Western Infidels at 11:30 AM on November 21, 2006

The items that I tried clicking on at freecomputerbooks.com were all links to external websites. No copyright violation involved.

Yeah, I don't understand these comments, either. I sure wish people would cite their complaint or at least it to Metatalk.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:58 AM on November 21, 2006

I think they're just subscribing to the age old 'Nothing this good could possibly be legal' belief set.
posted by IronLizard at 12:06 PM on November 21, 2006

I clicked through (on both sites) to about 20 different topics, and encountered not one illegal anything. A few of the lecture sites at universities appeared to require a password, but since none was provided, no harm was done.
posted by OmieWise at 12:23 PM on November 21, 2006

I sure wish people would cite their complaint or at least it to Metatalk.


On the main page, click on XHTML/CSS.

Now click on "Web Design and Publishing Books."

Now click on "O'Reilly The Web Design CD Bookshelf."


I'm no expert, but it looks to me like someone -- not O'Reilly -- put a bunch of copyrighted O'Reilly books-on-CD on the web.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:44 PM on November 21, 2006

I'm worried. I think my autodidactic behavior is becoming a problem, it's all I do all the time now. If you're autodidactic too often, do you grow hair on your palms?
posted by XMLicious at 1:47 PM on November 21, 2006

ZenMasterThis: I think the link you're referencing is:
O'Reilly® HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 4th Ed (Chuck Musciano, et al) (possibly ironic, that ®) and it does indeed seem to be a set of copyrighted information.
And the web master of freecomputerbooks.com might be interested to know this, possibly removing the link if s/he's made aware.

I don't think that entirely invalidates the rest of the links, however. I betcha Google links to at least one or two copyright violations if you look for them. :)
posted by I, Credulous at 2:08 PM on November 21, 2006

If you check the FAQ on that site, it claims to be linking to third party web sites that actually host the material. He's a little fuzzy, but does emphatically claim that there is no copyright violation going on.

It does look like the editions that are presented are older, so maybe there is some kind of agreement going on with the copyright holder?
posted by owhydididoit at 2:15 PM on November 21, 2006

Thanky, BP. Oughtta be more MeFi posts like this one!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:39 PM on November 21, 2006