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Subject:Re: What's the lifespan of your writings? From:Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 21 Mar 1997 09:31:16 -0800
John Fisher wrote:
> ... what I write
> (software user and reference manuals) has a half-life
> of about six months. So, I'm curious. What's the projected
> life span of the work you produce?
It depends on how often the software/hardware gets revised. When I was
writing books for commerical publisher, the average shelf-life of a book
was about 18 months. Some books went nowhere, because the associated
software went nowhere, and some books are still in Books in Print some
5-7 years later because the software is still being supported.
Manuals and support literature for software companies has a somewhat
shorter lifespan, because the company frequently "upgrades" the
product. That's usually the reason for changing the docs.
Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems
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