What does it mean when there is a Second Edition of a core ITIL V3 book?

OGC released a Second Edition of The Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle Book on 12th May. It is too soon for this to be part of the "v3.1" ITIL Update. So is it a major revision? No errata, no change-log (of this book), no way of knowing if you need to buy an updated version or not. This isn't Mills and Boone - these are reference books. The lack of information is ridiculous.

I'm doubly annoyed because I just bought a replacement copy of the First Edition. I saw no prior warning that it was about to be obsoleted.

Questions I haven't been able to resolve yet:

Is there a list of changes for this book anywhere? yes yes I know about the OGC Change Log but it gives me no way to look up all approved changes by book, like BOKKED would

Are you online subscribers getting access to the new edition or do you need to pay anew?

If anyone has access to this new edition, can you tell us who is the author? Is it still "Sharon's book"?

What process did this go through? Is it once again an unannounced TSO initiative, or did OGC have a hand? How about IPESC?

Comments

2nd Editon

When I saw this announced a few weeks ago I was excited. Then realized through reading that nothing from the re-re-refresh was in there, how could it be, nothing has been written yet.

Thank you for taking the time to blog about this. Many people like me (from 2 years ago) would have bought this book expecting new content. Also like me from 2 years ago I would have purchased this book and not opened it.

OGC brilliant marketing from the people who brought you the reformation in the 16th century.

Chris

2nd edition

Ok after asking some people I know from TSO this is what I got. First of all thanks to the people of TSO for taking the time for answering this

2nd Edition Amends
1) Title – The word “official” has been removed
2) Cover – Logos on the front cover have been changed
3) Content – remains the same as the 1st edition ISBN 9780113310616 the only change is to the title and front cover logos.

There has been no change to the content, its just when the title changes, the ISBN must change which means it is the 2nd edition but that´s all.

This is in line with some previous posts to this blog, yes I know that maybe OGC have to had more communication with the community to be more specific about this minor changes but I believe too that all the information content of the book is published so the readers have the tools they need to evaluate whether they need to buy this book or no.

WTF

Mauricio

What do you mean that "all the information content of the book is published"? you mean the table of contents? Surely not. What if there were 60 corrections to errors? 5 new diagrams? A rewritten chapter? How would anyone know?

It is also debatable that the ISBN must change on a title change.

Even if it WERE appropriate to change the ISBN with the title, we still do not have answers to two questions:
1) Why on earth was it deemed necessary to drop the word "official"? And even if there was a good reason why not wait until V3.1?
2) Even if there were a good reason to change the title, how does that justify "2nd Edition"? To most of us on planet Earth, 2nd Edition implies substantive change

I'm gonna have to buy a copy now just to work out what logos were changed, and what fine print - as i suspect - has changed. there's something going on here and I'm betting it is linked with the other B.S. I am finding out about. (Anyone with more info about what has been going on between OGC, OPSI and TSO please contact me - I plan to blog soon)

Licence fees

Skeptic

Here's some informed(ish) speculation for you to perhaps help guide your research.

First the opening statement of your blog post is I believe wrong. It should read "TSO released a Second Edition of The Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle Book on 12th May" not OGC.

What I imagine happened is that TSO decided to publish the 1st edition on the book and wanted it to be official. In theory only the 5 core books are official ITIL titles, so to get any sort of official status as a complementary text, TSO would have had to apply to APMG for permission to use the ITIL trademark. Presumably they would have had to go through the rigorous assessment process that deemed the work supported ITIL, didn't contradict it, added value, put ITIL in context etc, etc. Having got the license, for which they had to pay APMG (the contracted manager of OGC's ITIL license) they were able to put the 'Official' tag and ITIL Licensed products logos on the book.

Now these ITIL trademark licenses are expensive and time limited. I expect that when the trademark license came up for renewal, TSO decided that they weren't getting value for money, or that the official trademark was no longer necessary (or heaven forbid the official ITIL brand was now a hindrance), so they decided to do a new edition that didn't have the trademark licence. They still had to apply to the contracted manager of OGC's ITIL copyrights (different from the trademark licences) for use of the ITIL material. By happy coincidence this is TSO themselves.

So the new edition is merely a mechanism to sell the same book without the license fee/royalty and is a way of satisfying APMG/OGC that they are no longer using stock with the old logos.

As I said - speculation but I'd bet my standard wager of a pint on it.

Second Edition of the Introduction of ITIL

I can confirm that there has been no content changes in the Second Edition of The Introduction to the ITIL Service Lifecycle Book.

Due to standard industry practices as the title has changed a new ISBN had to be issued. Anyone with the 1st edition should have no requirement to purchase the 2nd edition.

Nonsense

Why is the title changing if the book isn't changing? Why the new ISBN if the content is the same? I remember the days when publishers were harranged for bringing out new editions that were less than 15% (a pretty arbitrary figure) different from the previous edition. Anything less than that and you were expected to go down the 'Reprinted with corrections' or 'Reprinted with Revisions' route.

This is complete and utter nonsense. I'd accept Skeptic's suggestion that a few mistaken sales were the motivation if it weren't for the fact that people could return the books if they weren't satisfied and that the whole exercise is likely to cost more than the extra sales would justify.

Well gosh that's sure nice

Well gosh that's sure nice to know. Obviously this blog is the most effective medium for getting that information to the over a million ITIL practitioners in the world.

So dropping the word "Official" from the title requires a new ISBN? I'm not sure all publishers would agree with you.

But there sure will be a few "accidental" sales from people who think there IS new content or even just corrections and go out and buy a new copy anyway. I guess there's no real incentive to get the message out is there?

And since we are changing the books again within 24 months, what's the point of all this for a tweek of the title? is anyone driving?

[Incidentally the previous comment came from an authorative URL]

Don't know why there should be an update

The v3 books were perfect in every way, no ambiguity, no contradictions, easy to read & follow, especially the Strategy book.

PS: The Richmond Tigers are also a sure thing in this year's AFL and Michael Clark should be in our 20/20 side.

pretty good

Carn the Cats! (though they've never had the same mystique since Ablett Snr retired)

Actually the Official Intro was pretty good. My (new) copy is currently on loan to a client to help him out as he works through the Service Operation book. Since it summarises the other books it summarises all the flaws, and adds a few of its own especially in the "models", but for all that it's a useful overview for beginners.

that's why I'd really like to know just how different the Second Edition is.

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