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Subject:paper vs online From:awelden -at- SOSC1 -dot- SOSC -dot- OSSHE -dot- EDU Date:Fri, 12 Mar 1993 14:54:16 -0800
Hello,
Amy Welden here. Right now, I'm in graduate school getting and
interdicsiplinary Masters in Computer Science and Technical Writing.
I also have about five years experience writing software documentation.
Please don't tell me paper documentation is dead. I've been doing some
system administration on an Apollo workstation and most of the documentation
is on CD-ROM and in the man pages. There's nothing worse than trying to
step through a process and having to stop to look up the instructions online.
I finally convinced the powers that be to buy some manuals and life has
been sweet ever since.
Maybe I'm hopelessly steeped in the past, but I need real books to peruse.
As a technical writer and one who actually has to use the stuff, I think
we need online quick reference material, but we also need well written,
well organized, use as a door stop documentation.