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RE: Post-holiday reality: They don't need our stinkin' manuals??
Subject:RE: Post-holiday reality: They don't need our stinkin' manuals?? From:Sanjay Srikonda <SSrikonda -at- invlink -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 27 Dec 2000 14:30:23 -0500
simple example, you mentioning VCR reminded me of this. How many of us have
gone to friends'/familys' houses and see the VCR flickering 12:00 over and
over again. What's the most often used complaint? I don't know how to
program it. How many users have ever read the manual on how to program it?
Would it still be flickering 12:00?
-----Original Message-----
From: Wally Glassett [mailto:wallyg99 -at- home -dot- net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2000 2:19 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Post-holiday reality: They don't need our stinkin'
manuals??
If whatever new 'widget' I get/buy comes with any kind of "quick start"
guide, I go through that from front to back. Then, if it's a type of
'widget' I'm familiar with already, like a VCR, camera or washing machine, I
read all about any new features it may have. If it's a completely new kind
of 'widget' I read the provided material pretty thoroughly and keep the
manual close by till I'm comfortable with it. After all that, the manuals
are filed away.
I DO NOT do the same for new versions or upgrades of software products/tools
I have, but I always get some third party book/reference to keep handy. As
examples, for Windows 2000 I've consulted the third party manuals
frequently, but for Office 2000 I'm not sure I've ever even opened the
manual up, except to see if MS has fixed any of Word's well known
shortcomings for doing real documents. About all I can say about that is
that it kind of looks like MS is taking the approach that if they can bury
the problems/issues deeper in the menus, maybe they will go away...
<snip>
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