Book Auction to Benefit the FreeBSD Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOOK AUCTION TO BENEFIT THE FREEBSD FOUNDATION
Creative Use of eBay and Dead Trees Raises Funds for Non-Profit

CONTACT: 
No Starch Press: Leigh Poehler, media@nostarch.com, +1 415.863.9900 x301
The FreeBSD Foundation: Deb Goodkin, deb@freebsd.org, +1 720.207.5142 

San Francisco, CA--Open source software depends on community support and
the efforts of countless non-profits, like The FreeBSD Foundation. In an
enlightened example of a for-profit company acting to benefit a non-profit
organization, book publisher No Starch Press of San Francisco, California
will auction the first copy of the second edition of "Absolute FreeBSD" to
the highest bidder. All proceeds will benefit The FreeBSD Foundation. 

The winner of the auction receives a signed copy of "Absolute FreeBSD" hot
off the press and a Certificate of Authenticity. In fact, Michael W.
Lucas, the book's author, plans to pick up the book from the printer
himself. The ongoing auction (http://snipurl.com/1so1c) runs through
November 2, 2007. The FreeBSD Foundation is using eBay's charitable
MissionFish service to provide this auction at a reduced rate. 

How can the winner be assured that the book they receive will, in fact, be
the first copy off the press? "Well," said No Starch Press Founder Bill
Pollock, "it may not be the absolute first copy off the press because very
first copies are often trashed because of problems. However, our printer,
Malloy Incorporated of Ann Arbor, Michigan, will pull the first good copy
off the press and set it aside for this purpose."

No Starch Press is no stranger to supporting non-profits in the tech
community. Several times every year, No Starch donates books to hacking
groups and conferences worldwide (like Defcon, Toorcon, Chaos
Communications Congress, and Hack.lu) as well as to other technical
conferences and numerous user groups. And, in an effort to make the world
a safer place for hackers, for the past five years every No Starch Press
title has carried an advertisement soliciting donations for the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF), a donor-funded nonprofit dedicated to defending
our digital rights.

"We are excited to kick-off our fall fundraising campaign by auctioning
off this phenomenal guide to FreeBSD," said Deb Goodkin, The FreeBSD
Foundation Director of Operations. "We are fortunate that Michael, who is
one of the leading experts in FreeBSD, and No Starch Press have generously
volunteered their time and effort to help us raise funds to support the
FreeBSD Project and Community."

The auction itself is the brainchild of author Michael W. Lucas. Why would
an author put so much effort into helping a foundation? After all,
wouldn't Lucas want to keep that first copy himself?

As it turns out, this isn't just any foundation. This is The FreeBSD
Foundation. As Lucas sees it, "The Foundation does a lot of good work for
the FreeBSD community. I wanted to not only help the Foundation, but help
encourage others to give to the Foundation. The first book off the press
is normally something I'd treasure myself, but the Foundation can get much
more good out of it than I could. I hope that those who bid on the book
but don't win will consider donating to the Foundation.”

All proceeds from the sale of the first copy of "Absolute FreeBSD" will go
to The FreeBSD Foundation. 

Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition
The Complete Guide to FreeBSD
by Michael W. Lucas
November 2007, 736 pp., $59.95 
ISBN 978-1-59327-151-0
http://www.nostarch.com/abs_bsd2.htm

For a review copy of "Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition," email
nostarchpr@nostarch.com.  Please include your mailing address and phone
number.

Available in fine bookstores everywhere, from www.oreilly.com/nostarch, or
directly
from No Starch Press (www.nostarch.com, orders@nostarch.com,
800.420.7240).

ABOUT THE FREEBSD PROJECT
FreeBSD is a complete, advanced, Unix-like operating system which can be
used as a secure and high-performance workstation, network server, or
firewall. FreeBSD is developed by a team of over 350 programmers and
documentation writers. Over 13,000 third-party software suites are freely
available for quick installation from the FreeBSD Packages Collection. For
more information on FreeBSD visit http://www.FreeBSD.org/.

ABOUT THE FREEBSD FOUNDATION
The FreeBSD Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to
supporting the FreeBSD Project and community. The Foundation gratefully
accepts donations from individuals and businesses, using them to fund and
manage projects, sponsor FreeBSD events and Developer Summits, and provide
travel grants to FreeBSD developers. In addition, the Foundation
represents the FreeBSD Project in executing contracts, license agreements,
and other legal arrangements that require a recognized legal entity. The
FreeBSD Foundation is entirely supported by donations. More information
about the FreeBSD Foundation is available on the web at
http://www.FreeBSDFoundation.org/. 

ABOUT NO STARCH PRESS
Founded in 1994, No Starch Press (nostarch.com) is one of the few
remaining independent computer book publishers. We publish the finest in
geek entertainment--unique books on technology, with a focus on Open
Source, security, hacking, programming, alternative operating systems, and
LEGO. Our titles have personality, our authors are passionate, and our
books tackle topics that people care about. (And most No Starch Press
books use RepKover, a lay-flat binding that won't snap shut.)

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