Most technical books are based on rapidly changing technologies. The books that are first to market have the best chance for success. As a result, there is a lot of pressure to get books out as quickly as possible. That means shortcuts have to be taken. It is extremely rare for an author to include all of the information he wants in a first edition. Publishing new editions is expensive because publishers incur many of the same costs as a brand new book. That’s why it is at least 2-3 years before new editions are printed, but that only happens for a very small subset of books.

The point is that books contain incomplete information. While moving content online doesn’t solve all schedule related problems, there is no definite end-date as there is with a book. Internet publishing allows for an ongoing content development process, which can result in more complete information.