MS and Novell WAS RE: Corrupted files on a network?

["Comeau, Lisa" <Lisa -dot- Comeau -at- MOH -dot- GOV -dot- ON -dot- CA>]

Geoff stated
Windows 3.1 ... and  Win95, ... don't cooperate well with Novell Netware,
whether because of the usual shoddy quality control by Microsoft or from
more sinister reasons ...

Yep, MS may have shoddy quality control, but that's not the problem.
Yep, MS sells a competing product, but that's not the problem.

They're both part of the problem, though. Before I get myself an ADMIN
reminder (hi Eric!) ;-), let me keep this as brief as possible, and simplify
ALOT. (And let me explain why I think this has to do with technical
communication AFTER I give you the appropriate info.)

The Story of NetWare and MS
(if you know it, either sing along, or skip to the end...)

Novell created NetWare long before MS came into the networking picture. It
was the best thing on the market - because it was the only thing on the
market. But NetWare was not an Operating System, it is networking software.
Every PC must have an op sys, so Novell had to use SOMETHING - at first it
used MS DOS which is text-based.

Then MS decided to bring in Windows, which was a GUI (graphic<al> user
interface), and since Novell was using MS DOS, they decided Windows was a
good next step. BUT MS doesn't like to share software development
information, so Novell had to figure out the Windows stuff on their own.
Without access to the programming code in Windows, they couldn't seamlessly
integrate their network software with the operating system.

Keep in mind that while all this was going on, Novell and MS both had office
suites to sell, and MS started trying to conquer the networking world. And
so, boys and girls, these two conglomerates forgot how to share and play
nice.

Hence, MS brought out it's own networking software (Windows NT - the NT
stands for New Technology) and decided to bash the brains out of the
competition.

THE END

The moral of the story (and the "how does this relate to techwriting" part)

1) know your audience - Novell and MS should have recognized that people
would want to use combinations of their software, and planned accordingly

2) know your limitations - if you're having trouble with docs on your
network, etc, look at  newer, better ways of doing things

3) realize that no tools work together perfectly, but if you can do anything
at all about what tools you use, try to get software made by the same
company, or companies in partnership rather than competitors - hey, would
you share your templates with the competition? If you would, you're a better
person than me! ;-)


Lisa Comeau
"I love to dance in the light of the TECHWR-L flames...it makes me feel
free..."
-attributed to a crazy techwhirler singed to death on afternoon in May

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