Re: "They don't need no stinkin' documentation..."

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

<david -dot- locke -at- amd -dot- com> wrote 
 
>  Their insistence on design extends beyond manuals and help. 
> They want the software tasks to be allocated to the software. 
> They want to focus entirely on tasks from the automated domain,
> not the automation. They want defaults and power without all
> the feature bloating controls. They want embedded. They 
> want a picture or a table that cuts a thousand words. They 
> want a view, not a black box. 

Yeah, yeah...those damn users. They want software that installs itself,
never fails, reads their mind, and can operate flawlessly at
faster-than-light speeds while running on a grain of sand floating in a
pool of molten lead. Sorry, its in beta right now. Wait for the Service
Pack. 

I agree - people want easy. But when it comes to docs, part of making it
easy is knowing what to say and what not to say. And if you expect to do
that with any degree of skill, you had better know what it is you're
saying - otherwise, you won't say much at all. And that's worse. 
 
> When was the last time you set the top-end limit of your car's
performance? 

While the average joe might not, its the people who do push performance
that set the market demands.  If everybody was comfortable with 640K
286-16s running DOS we would never have seen any improvement. The drive to
improve and push performance and capability is the central motivating
force of any expanding market.

Of course, I test the top-end limit of my car's performance pretty much
every day. So, if you see two blinding oval Xenon headlights and an Oregon
license plate that reads "APLATO" coming at you - get outta the way. I'm
late for a meeting. :-) 

Andrew Plato 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
http://personals.yahoo.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Announcing new options for IPCC 01, October 24-27 in Santa Fe,
New Mexico: attend the entire event or select a single day.  
For details and online registration, visit http://ieeepcs.org/2001

  Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
  5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
  Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.