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I'm in the process of writing a book also. I'm wondering if an author has no saying in this. Can a publisher just decide: I give your book away for free?

What does this mean for publishing in general? 10 years is not much time for good technical books.

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It's been so long that I can't even find the agreement that I signed with Springer back then. But I would assume that there was something in there that allows them to do what they did. And since it's more than fine by me that the book is now available for free, I don't care. But if you're concerned about the issue, then, in my opinion, there is only one course of action: have your agreement with the publisher reviewed by a lawyer before you sign it.

You appearently cared so much to make it non-free again. It's now $69.95 instead of a free PDF.

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