The Ultimate Giveaway
One of the BLOGS I read consistently is Zen Habits. Leo Babauta, the owner/blogger of Zen Habits, has done something unique, not only for BLOGS, but for copyrighted material everywhere. He is giving everything on his web site to anyone for free. Below is his final statement:
“Just to clarify, this post is an official notification that my writing here at Zen Habits and in the Zen To Done ebook are now in the public domain. I hereby waive all claim of copyright in this work; it may be used or altered in any manner without attribution or notice to the me. Attribution, of course, is appreciated.”
It is not as if he doesn’t have much to give away. He has a large readership, and a very popular BLOG. Making intellectual property free is not new. The open source movement is all about free, mostly relating to software.
If you don’t know much about open source, your natural reaction may be, WTF, this is ridicules. How can anyone give everything away and make enough money to live? Well, you can, and quite nicely. But we will get into that concept at a later date.
Long before the most people had ever heard of a BLOG, many of us had personal web sites. We used these sites much the same as a BLOG, in the sense of posting our meanderings, and using it as a way to hone our writing skills.
I had such a site for years. And way back then, around five or six years ago, it occurred to me to do the same thing as Leo Babauta. I too posted a comment on my About page that anyone who wanted any of the material was welcome to it. My motivation was not as lofty as Leo Babauta. I figured that if someone wanted it they would steal it anyway.
I wish Leo Babauta and Zen Habits the best of luck with this novel approach.
Incidentally, he lives in Guam, and supports a wife and six kids. Zen Habits is a terrific site with a lot of good and useful material. Have a look, and while you are there, check out his eBook. You just might want to help with those six kids.
