Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!super.upenn.edu!eecae!upba!mcdchg!clyde!burl!codas!killer!usl!elg From: elg@usl (Eric Lee Green) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.misc,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.pascal Subject: Re: Aggravating manuals Message-ID: <274@usl> Date: Fri, 2-Oct-87 16:42:19 EDT Article-I.D.: usl.274 Posted: Fri Oct 2 16:42:19 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 7-Oct-87 01:52:19 EDT References: <1651@killer.UUCP> Organization: CACS, Univ of SW La, Lafayette, LA Lines: 31 Xref: mnetor comp.sys.ibm.pc:8630 comp.sys.misc:883 comp.lang.c:4699 comp.lang.pascal:364 in article <1651@killer.UUCP>, tad@killer.UUCP (Tad Marko) says: > to be typing an unfamiliar instruction with one hand while struggling > to keep the manual on the right page with the other. ACK! Am I the > only one this picky, or are there others who are just as aggravated? > Borland has a bad habit if softbinding manuals, Turbo C, Turbo Pascal > (and most likely the 4.0 release of Turbo Pascal), and Turbo-every- > thing-else, and now apparently Microsoft has caught this disease. Borland soft-binds their manuals in an attempt at copy protection. It is hard to copy a manual that you have to manually place every page. Most modern copy centers have auto-feeders, that you just stuff your source document into and out pops a copy of the document, all without you having to manually place any pages at all. Probably Microsoft has come to the same conclusion (also, it's cheaper than their previous attempt at manual copy protection, that is, making the #@$%@#$% manual 2000 pages long!). Still, if they must bind, I sure do wish that they'd use spiral (wire) binding. Sure a dedicated copy-freak can get the pages out of the binding if he wants. But most people are NOT going to destroy their manual just for the benefit of some turd-brain who just wants a copy for free, and as far as convenience goes, for a moderate-size manual, it's even more convenient than a three-ring binder (if you fold it to the page you want to see, it takes up only half the desk space -- quite a consideration, considering that I have two walls covered with computer worktables, and not an inch of it bare!). -- Eric Green elg@usl.CSNET from BEYOND nowhere: {ihnp4,cbosgd}!killer!elg, P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509 {akgua,killer}!usl!elg "there's someone in my head, but it's not me..."