Books

  • Thread starter Thread starter PuppyGumDrop
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PuppyGumDrop

I remember back in the olden days when software came with
a thing called a Book.

One could sit and read all about Your New Operating
System or Word Processor ect.

We didn't spend hours searching for answers.

One could look it up in The Book.

Was a good idea being able to study The Book.

Funny ol' things they were.
 
Wonderful things. Books. A forgotten concept, it seems.

ps. O'Reilly does good things.
 
PuppyGumDrop said:
I remember back in the olden days when software came with
a thing called a Book.

One could sit and read all about Your New Operating
System or Word Processor ect.

We didn't spend hours searching for answers.

One could look it up in The Book.

Was a good idea being able to study The Book.

Funny ol' things they were.
Click to expand...

Right, that's also when people knew how to read instead of being button
pushers.
 
When you consider inflation, DOS for $99 would be about
$1500 today.


|
| >Although some software still comes with manuals, a lot
| doesn't.
| >But I greatly prefer things the way they are now.
| Producing books
| >is expensive and added a lot to the cost of the
| software. In most
| >cases, software is cheaper today, and a lot of that
| difference in
| >price can be attributed to the lack of a manual.
| >
|
| * For $178 XP upgrade and pushing $500 stand alone for XP
| I would not call it cheaper. DOS 6 was $99 when I bought
| it way back then and came with a large manual.
|
| >Moreover, in most cases, the manuals that came with the
| software
| >were much poorer in quality than many of the third-party
| books
| >you could buy.
|
| *And that reflects on the software company.
|
| Software not coming with a manual means that I
| >can take the money I saved by not having to buy the
| >manufacturer's manual, and use it to buy another, better
| book of
| >my own choosing.
|
| >And last, a lot of software no longer has a manual
| because it
| >comes with much better help files than it used to. In
| many cases,
| >that's even better than a book or manual.
|
| *I have so many different programs I would rather grab a
| book, look up the index and find the solution instead of
| logging on to the net as some software help is only
| available online.
|
| *You only have to look at newsgroups to see how many
| people are in trouble. I have searched XP help and not
| found reference to errors.
|
| *Also I am no where near a place where I can browse
| through books to choose one of my choice.
|
| *I would gladly pay extra for the choice of manual or no
| manual. And that goes for hardware as well.
|
| *Personal choice I guess.
|
| *PGD
 
In
PuppyGumDrop said:
* For $178 XP upgrade and pushing $500 stand alone for XP
I would not call it cheaper.
Click to expand...


I don't know where you're located or what kind of dollars you're
talking about, but here in the US, prices are *much* lower than
that.

DOS 6 was $99 when I bought
it way back then and came with a large manual.
Click to expand...


Comparing DOS 6 and Windows XP is comparing apples and oranges.
They differ vastly in capability, not to mention lines of code.

*And that reflects on the software company.

Software not coming with a manual means that I


*I have so many different programs I would rather grab a
book, look up the index and find the solution instead of
logging on to the net as some software help is only
available online.

*You only have to look at newsgroups to see how many
people are in trouble. I have searched XP help and not
found reference to errors.
Click to expand...


Judging how many people have problems witha particular program by
counting newsgroup posts is like judging how many people have
transmission problems by visiting a transmission shop. Of course
people in newsgroups have problems; that's why they come to the
newsgroups. The far greater number of people without problems
don't oven come to newsgroups.
 
PuppyGumDrop said:
*I would gladly pay extra for the choice of manual or no
manual. And that goes for hardware as well.
Click to expand...


I prefer a manual also. By including .pdf files, these companies have
simply passed on the cost of printing to the consumer (and printing costs
are higher with an inkjet or laser). Buying a book is an option for a
popular program, but often not available for less popular programs. Sadly,
this is an ongoing trend, so it isn't likely to change anytime soon.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/
 
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