Re: One publication or two?

[Matt Ion <mion -at- NEXTLEVEL -dot- COM>]

On Sat, 23 Sep 1995 05:28:30 -0400 you wrote:

>Books larger that 200 pages tend to intimidate their readers, and hence do not
>get read.  That means the support costs for the product go up dramatically,
>because all those users will ring up to ask how to use it instead of reading
>the manual.

I'm afraid the size of the manual doesn't have much to do with it.  I worked
for a few months at IBM as a TSA when Warp was released last year.  A good 50%
of the calls I took could have been answered by simply opening the manual...
about 50% of those by reading the "Getting started" section.  Warp's manual,
covering installation, basic use, and most common problems, is far less than
200 pages in size (I don't have mine with me or I could tell you exactly how
thick it ISN'T.

Of course, when you provide a 24-hour-a-day toll-free support line, most
people find it easier to simply pick up the phone... and then get pissed off
at having to wait a day or so for the call to be returned because everyone
else is doing the same thing.

And of course, I couldn't simply tell the person, "RTFM, butthead," or even,
"Look in your manual on page xxx."  No, the problem had to be handled on the
phone, with, at best, a closing of "You'll find further information in the
user's guide on page xxx."




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