Libreture
Every technologist recognises O'Reilly's books. Their animal-illustrated covers are usually seen on a developer's bookshelf, alongside Packt Publishing or No Starch Press titles.
Up until yesterday, anyone could buy an O'Reilly book directly from the publisher themselves, either in print or in a variety of DRM-free e-book formats. But that has now changed. O'Reilly has decided to throw everything behind their Safari subscription product and is no longer selling any books, paper or e-book, direct to customers.
Their article announcing the change is a little... businessy?
They will continue to sell their print and e-books through other shops, but that doesn't always guarantee they'll be DRM-free. I'd suggest using Kobo if you want O'Reilly e-books that definitely don't have DRM.
Switching Models
O'Reilly was the very first shop I added to my list of DRM-free Bookshops. I own a number of their titles, as both print and e-books. And I made use of their customer-friendly discount when buying alternative formats when I already owned one type of a book.
While some will say that their e-books are still available through their Safari product. A subscription model isn't the same as actually buying a product. For one, you don't own a product you access through this kind of subscription model, you only get access to it for as long as you subscribe. This may be too much of a financial hurdle for some. Simon Collinson, Digital Editor at Canelo Press, tweeted:
Yep. Think of the freelancers! People without a steady income stream will struggle to justify this (and Creative Cloud, Office, etc., etc.)
Secondly, there are accessibility questions here. Many people use an e-reader because of visual impairments or disabilities. Limiting access to a web browser or app disadvantages those people; many developers among them.
It seems that O'Reilly have taken a look at the figures and decided to put all their effort into Safari, at the expense of their bookshop business. While this may make financial sense, I doubt it will make long-term business sense. If there is one group of people that don't like being told how they can access information that's important to them, it's the technology sector.
I hope Packt Publishing and No Starch Press, along with many others, are watching. And good luck to them.
Here are some other DRM-free technology related bookshops: