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<div>And I'll add another alternate. For the few users who want a reference copy, the PDF is now superior, now that tablets and ebook readers are now usable. I keep mine on my iPad, accessed through iAnnotate.
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<div>Bill</div>
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<div><font style="color:#333333"><i>Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID</i></font></div>
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<br>
"N.M. Maclaren" <nmm1@cam.ac.uk> wrote:<br>
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<div class="PlainText">On Feb 22 2014, Rolf Rabenseifner wrote:<br>
><br>
>as input for your discussions I'll give you some background about the <br>
>MPI-2.1/2.2/3.0 book selling which includes some lessens learned,<br>
>which may influence your decisions on MPI-3.1 and 4.0,<br>
>see conclusions at the end.<br>
<br>
An alternate view:<br>
<br>
>- About 30% of MPI programmers who physically get in touch with the book,<br>
> buy the book (it is the cheapest useful screen extension they can buy ;-)<br>
><br>
> ==> I expect a similar rate in the MPI Forum<br>
<br>
Yes, indeed, but NOT among the MPI-using community as a whole.<br>
<br>
Few people have much difficulty actually using the MPI facilities, once<br>
over the initial learning curve, and rarely look at ANY reference on it.<br>
Their ongoing problems are almost all due to the management of the data<br>
and its distribution (surprise, surprise!)<br>
<br>
A high proportion of them program from multiple locations, usually work<br>
and home, but often have multiple offices, and some do design and/or<br>
coding at external meetings.<br>
<br>
I doubt that even 30% of the MPI-using community look at the actual<br>
standard more than a couple of times a year and, for those people, it<br>
isn't just the price but the shelf space and weight of a 1,000 page<br>
book (which is what MPI 4.0 will be).<br>
<br>
In Cambridge, I doubt that more than 5% of the MPI-using community<br>
would buy the book even the offer and book were delivered to their desk.<br>
But we have always been one of the most distributed and network-centric<br>
universities in the world. It might be higher elsewhere.<br>
<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Nick Maclaren.<br>
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