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Despite the shoddy reputation ebooks have gained as a result of the trash put out there by rank amateurs with a PDF editor, and the continuing popularity of paper books despite the proliferation of digital book reading devices, one category of book buyers that decidedly prefers the format is IT professionals seeking digital IT training manuals. British publishing house Pearson press has a big stake in this niche, represented by their two major flagship sites Peachpit.com and InformIT.com.
Inform IT has some features in common with the other Pearson subsidiary, including a wealth of free features such as articles, blogs, and videos contributed by the authors. InformIT covers similar niches as the sites covered in my Peachpit.com review, with the notable difference that there is less focus on more creative areas like video and photography, and a greater emphasis on business management and marketing in addition to the overlapping fields of web design and programming.
The sites most similar to Inform IT is Pearson's own Peachpit press (which covers all of the same topics with the sole dofference that InformIT caters to the business niche and Peachpit focuses on the creative areas of photography and filmaking), and freetechbooks.com
Our full review of Peachpit is available here. The pros of Peachpit include the fact that it is also a publishing house, so an user can submit and profit handsomely from any content he creates, there are more titles put out by independent authors( which tend to cost a little less), and the user can also subscribe to Pearson's Safari online library at the same price of $42.00 per month for unlimited access.
Inform IT has an advantage in the range and quality of business, administration and marketing related subjects. As such they would be a better choice for medium to large size organizations, which Peachpit has the advantage for smaller, independent and creative entities.
Freetechbooks.com is, as indicated by the name, a fully free source of titles, covering areas similar to the titles sold for a premium of the sites listed above. It contains user contributed titles on web design, programming, operating system management, and productivity software.
Individuals seeking advice on such topics will find that freetechbooks.com is easy to navigate, relatively free of advertising ( surprising for a site with no other means of revenue), and completely free of charge. The bad news is that much of the information is old news (that is, professional programmers are likely to be familiar with the content already), There are only about 10 titles available for each subject, and the site’s focus is limited to programming. While it never hurts to seek the information you need free of charge before paying for it, remember that you cannot hold an anonymous source liable for any computing catastrophe's that may occur due to following such a source's instructions!
Reflecting the presence of so many top publishing house’s titles for sale on the site, prices on Inform It lean a bit on the expensive side, many titles run at about $40 per copy. However, many titles by independent authors are also available for less than $5 per copy.
Considering the existence of competitors offering similar information free of charge, it is not economically relevant to compare prices in the traditional sense on the term. But is feasible to compare value.
Inform IT gives subscriber's to Pearson's online Safari library access to the full library of 18,000 titles and videos for $43.00 per month. Smaller niche organizations can access 10 tittes per month for $28.00, or 5 titles per month for $10. For mid-sized and larger organizations and independent online training centers needing IT related textbooks, these costs is negligible compared to the value of having access to the most up-do-date training manuals for their employees or students.... even if much of the same information can be found on free wiki sites throughout the Internet. However, if you are a lone coder working (or learning) out of a garage, such an expense is not justifiable considering the necessary expenditure of time required to find the same IT training resources free of charge.
In my last review, I smelled a rat when presented with Peachpit.com's relatively spotless customer service record, So I was better prepared when my search for quantifiable instances of InformIT.com scams, complaints, and poor reviews required some deep probing and creative keyword combinations.
My search revealed a similar picture of a few complaints and problems, but no overriding pattern of consistent problems. Some complaints regaring delivery of bonus offers do exist, however.
There are only two complaints registered with the Better Business Bureau. Available details are sketchy, but both are listed as advertising and sales issues.
The one common thread that emerges from my search is that if there is a complaint, issue, or request for a refund, InformIT will, like Peachpit, tell you that you must refer your complaint to Pearson Press, the British parent company of of both online ebook retailers. This adds extra layers of complexity to getting the issue resolved, but, considering the lack to negative reviews, my assessment is that they sort it out eventually.
