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:Re: distributing pdf files From:Max Wyss <prodok -at- PRODOK -dot- CH> Date:Thu, 3 Dec 1998 14:36:30 +0100
Amy,
How does your company release the software itself? How do the customers get
the added features, and how does that mentioned customer buying the
software in July get the software?
Also, how many copies of the CD are usually produced?
If the software distribution is on CD as well, I would not see any problems
distributing the PDFs on the software distribution CD.
On the other hand, producing CDs is not that expensive anymore.
Hope, this can help.
Max Wyss
PRODOK Engineering AG
Technical documentation and translations, Electronic Publishing
CH-8906 Bonstetten, Switzerland
>Hello All!
>
>My company is about to release documentation on a CD and pdf files, rather
>than ship hard copy manuals. We release a new software version about every
>15 months. But, during that 15-month period, we make changes to the
>manuals, and new manuals are created, as new features are added to the
>current software release.
>
>I'm looking for advice regarding how to update the pdf files and get current
>information to our new customers. If we burn a CD in January and make
>changes to the manuals in February and March, how does a customer who buys
>in July get the most current pdf files? Should we burn every quarter (which
>gets expensive)? Should we burn once, at the beginning of the release, then
>post pdf files that have changed to our website (which makes the CD outdated
>for a customer who just bought our software)?
>
>I searched the archives for advice on this, but didn't find too much. I'd
>really appreciate it if anyone could reply directly to me (I get the
>digests) and let me know what works for their company.
>
>Thanks!
>Amy Nolan