Xref: utzoo comp.os.os2:1317 comp.windows.ms:1921 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!microsoft!roberth From: roberth@microsoft.UUCP (Robert HESS) Newsgroups: comp.os.os2,comp.windows.ms Subject: Re: What manuals? Message-ID: <54054@microsoft.UUCP> Date: 12 Apr 90 15:52:03 GMT References: <14999@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Lines: 80 Clancy Malloy (freak@cbnewsc.ATT.COM) posts: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What follows is a reprint (without permission) of a letter that was printed in the April 1990 issue of "SOFTWARE magazine. Any comments? The letter he posted: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Open Letter to Microsoft: This letter is to inform you of my experience with obtaining Microsoft's Operating System Software Development Kit 2.O. Immediately upon receiving the kit, I called Microsoft to find out where the manuals were. Microsoft's customer support informed me that there were no printed manuals - they were all "online." ...[several paragraphs deleted]... Online manuals are a fantastic addition to OS/2, but they can never replace the need for printed manuals. Gary Hoff, VP of Engineering ABC Development Systems, Inc. Minneapolis, Minn. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, I have comments... There are a couple issues that exist here. One, is the reason that documentation is 'online', and the other, is the fact that Gary was given an incomplete answer by our customer support. For the initial release of the OS/2 SDK, we had full documentation printed up and sent out. With OS/2 still being in a formative stage, quite a bit of this information was soon out-of-date, or inaccurate. For subsequent updates and releases of the SDK, we chose to ship 'QuickHelp' (ie: online) documentation. If we had taken the time to send our updates to the printer, get it back, send it out, it would not only be _several_ weeks later, but much of this 'new' information would again be out of date. By shipping our documentation in electronic form, we were able to get the latest information to our customers, _immediately_. This we felt was very important. For those customers who were with us from the beginning, this was just fine. They didn't need a dozen different versions of the printed manuals. They just needed one, and accurate update information. Near the end of the first SDK term, we sent out a new set of printed documentation, the same as was now being offered through Microsoft Press (and available in many bookstores). For those of you just getting started with the OS/2-PM SDK, this of course is a small problem. Many (all?) of you would like at least *one* printed copy of the documentation. This is where Gary was given an incomplete answer to his problem. No, we are not shipping the printed OS/2 Technical Reference manuals with the SDK. OS/2 is still changing, and trying to manage two different versions of the SDK releases (with documentation for first time customers, without documentation for upgrades) would just make it take longer for us to get our releases out. Which nobody would like. But that is not to say that printed documentation isn't available. Microsoft Press currently has available all 4 volumes of the OS/2 Programmers Reference manuals (vol1&2: 29.95, vol3&4: 19.95) These should be available at many bookstores, or you can order them from any bookstore. I have talked with Gary Hoff of ABC Development Systems, Inc. and explained these issues to him. I was able to satisfy him, and he was happy to learn that he could order documentation. - Robert __________________________________________________________________________ ##### ####### | Robert B. Hess, Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA ###### ####### |----------------------------------------------------- ####### ####### | roberth@microsof.uu.net #### ##### #### | {decvax, uunet, uw-beaver}!microsof!roberth #### ### #### |_____________________________________________________ "...my opinions are strictly my own, and not those of my employer..."