Ubuntu Semplice is an Italian collaborative book, helping newbies to install and use Ubuntu, written by 25 unpaid volunteers. The editor will donate 1500 euros to the Ubuntu foundation. There will be over a thousand printed books for the first edition with other editions hopefully to follow. The book is released under a creative commons by-nc-sa 2.5; the wiki www.ubuntusemplice.org contains the entire project, plus some extras.

The main focus of the book is to provide many screenshots and simple explanations, to make the newbie comfortable with the learning process. The volunteers worked with a mailing list and a wiki, and never met in the real world. From a community point of view, the experience of leading more than 20 people was challenging, but a real satisfaction.

In the future we plan a bigger and more comprehensive guide when Feisty Fawn will be released, around April 2007.

This Session aims to share this experience with the audience, providing hints regarding communities, dealing with newbies, and sustaining projects in the long term. It also focuses on partnerships with companies and organizations that could be beneficial to Ubuntu, like book editors and magazine publishers.