Value of TW's...

[Trevor Holdsworth <t -dot- holdsworth -at- GILSON -dot- FR>]

Having thought about Plato's article, I prepared a 'nice' satirical
reply, but thought again and decided to save bandwidth, I've simply
taken one part of it:


<<If writers started focusing more on the technologies they are
documenting and less on the tools they use, your boss's opinions on
tech writers might change.

In comparison, software design and development has dramatically
changed in the past 10 years.  Entire new languages have risen and
fallen in the past 10 years.  Moreover, the technologies are radically
different.>>

Well, aaaaaacutally, when I first started tech writing about 10 years
ago (strange coincidence?), I had a MAC (I now have a PC), and something
like Word 4.

It was PERFECT!

No systematic crashes, chapter handling easy, printing by
chapter/section a doddle,
Tables of Contents a piece of cake. I only had to concentrate on the
product/user bit.
Perhaps this was about the time you gave up Technical Writing.

But then your 'charm'ing programmers got their hands on Word.
Its now a standard programmers 'success' - continual patch releases that
don't fix everything, product too complicated, they seem to have
forgotten what the users want.
Word has fallen thats for sure, which is why a lot of people are glad of
the presence of this group. To ask questions, to read answers (on lots
of subjects). It isn't the only purpose of this group, of course but to
quote my uncle Septimus, " you can't please all of the TECHWIRLERS all
of the time".


End of (short version) story!

Trevor Holdsworth.

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