PDF robbery stifles standards

ITIL version 3 was recently launched this month.  Whilst the fundamentals largely appear the same, they’ve rejigged it to adopt a more pragmatic “business” view as opposed to “process silo” view which caused so many issues in the previous version.  ITIL is good.

They’ve released six new books, which supposedly cover all the aspects required.  They’re downloadable from the TSO Bookstore.  These replace the old books of version two (of which there were plenty).   They are BIG, BIG books so I can just about see how they justify their £299 (yes, pounds) price tag!!  The printing cost of the books would be pretty significant.   They’re equivalent to a small tree.

But check this out…  Their PDF version is a whopping £351.  Yes – 52 quid more expensive!  And the PDFs are DRMed!  Check it out!  Astounding.  How can a DRMed PDF cost more than six whopping tree resembling books?

I thought that standards were out there for people to adopt.  Why the f**k should we have to pay £351 for a individual PDF license?  Jeeps!  It’s even a British Government standard.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but if Governments et al (British, Kiwi, whoever) want everyone to adopt these standards then why charge like a wounded bull.  Make them free.  Drive adoption.