TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Discuss: Third party manuals? From:Gwen Barnes <gwen -dot- barnes -at- MUSTANG -dot- COM> Date:Sat, 15 Apr 1995 16:53:49 GMT
-> Have you visited your bookstore lately? Check out the computer
-> section: wall to wall books on how to get the most out of PageMa
-> WordPerfect, MS Word and a host of other applications. I note, p
-> devil's advocate here, that the three programs I've just named a
-> produced by some of the largest software companies in the world,
-> of which has a reputation for spending lots of money on their
-> technical writers. So what's going on here?
In a word, piracy. How else is someone going to learn the program if
they don't have manuals? Notice that a lot of the 'aftermarket' manuals
are published by Microsoft Press, about Microsoft products which
already have manuals of their own. Bill Gates ain't dumb -- if he can't
get the $$$ out of them for the legit version of the program, he can
cut his losses and at least make them buy the aftermarket manuals.
Cheers, @DISCLAIMER@
Gwen gwen -dot- barnes -at- mustang -dot- com
MSI * Connecting the world 805-873-2500