Open Source of Book Publishing?

I want to point my readers to Peter Redford’s experiment in creating a Publishing Empire by using the web as a democratic medium akin to Open Source …

Browse Books, Inc. is a concept that Peter is experimenting with. A hypothetical press release could read … “Merged-media book publisher, BROWSE, announced today that it is unveiling a web portal designed to make book publishing efficient and entertaining. Book authors will be able to submit manuscripts into the portal and work with affiliated editors, content and service providers and even book distribution agents to fully produce the book and secure distribution deals…”

For the writers out there, this may be a project worth getting involved in, and contributing your visions to! Peter writes his business plan ideas openly, in a public Blog format, and you can add your ideas to it via comments.

All coventional instincts of Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs go out of the window in this experiment. It is counter-intuitive to be so open about the ideas, and so callous about protecting IP.

At the same time, one wonders, How and Why did Open Source come about?