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Subject:Re: Pc v. Mac From:Ann Howell <ahowell -at- POOLMAIL -dot- DOLPHINSOFTWARE -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:53:36 -0400
Although I love my Mac (I have a fully loaded G3 sitting on my desk at home), I
think you'll find that PC's are the machines of choice for technical
documentation. Mostly just because that's what all the developers and other
SME's are using. I don't think one platform is inherently better that the other
in terms of document creation (FrameMaker, MS Word and PageMaker work equally
well on both platforms), but I think it will probably come down to
accessibility. Will the Marcomm group want to access and edit the tech docs, or
will the docs stay within your group? Graphics should not be an issue,
especially for low-res B&W images.
In the end, I'd recommend going with the platform you're most comfortable with.
After all, you're the ones who are going to working on the docs day after day
(after day, after day...)
Bill Fetzner <BFetzner -at- ETCCONNECT -dot- COM> on 06/29/99 03:39:56 PM
Please respond to Bill Fetzner <BFetzner -at- ETCCONNECT -dot- COM>
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
cc: (bcc: Ann Howell/Dolphin)
Subject: Pc v. Mac
I've been working in a Marcomms group for the past couple of years and
recently we were reassigned to R&D. This presents us with not one but two
opportunities: (1) to get closer to our SMEs and gain a bit more respect
from them, and (2) to reconsider whether pc's are better, as good as or
inferior to Mac's for tech pubs for technical writing jobs. We've had the
Mac's because the Marketing types truly believe that Mac's are indisputably
superior to pc's for graphics design. But while we use graphics elements in
our technical documents, we're not doing color work or requiring high
definition, things that are of inestimable value for marketing pieces. Most
of our documents are prepared in Frame, Page or Word in the ratio of about
70/10/20.
Question: Which platform is in the most common use and, consequently,
considered better for pure technical writing projects?
