Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.programmer:6411 comp.sys.mac:32172
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!keith
From: keith@Apple.COM (Keith Rollin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.sys.mac
Subject: APDA on a disk
Message-ID: <31042@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 18 May 89 18:45:17 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 37

Most of you by now have probably heard of "Developer Helper:Phil & Dave's
Excellent CD". This is a CD released by Apple Developer Services to the
developers who showed up to the WorldWide Developers Conference last week,
and mailed to all the rest who weren't. It contains many tools, programs, and
files that are invaluable to developing any program.

Response to the CD has been fantastic! Way more than we expected! Demand for
the initial pre-release exceeded our stock (12,000) and 7500 more have to
be printed.

All of this has caused speculation here (at Apple) and on the nets as to what
should be done in the future about this. Many people would like to see more
things come from Apple on CD, and also have them distributed to wider
audiences.

I'd like to avoid most of the discussion on *WHAT* should be distributed, and
to *WHOM* it should be distritbuted; I don't think that there will be many
problems coming up with favorable decisions there. However, what I would like
to start a discussion about is how people would like to see the documentation
handled. Our documentation department writes everything in a word processor,
not in HyperCard, so converting to that medium (or any other for that matter)
would be difficult and time consuming.

So what would people like to see? MS-Word files? Text stashed into HyperCard?
Text stashed into HyperCard with Hypertext links? Perferences on some fancy
search and retrieval engines? "Read me" files in MPW format?

Ideally, whatever is done should be a solution that can be implemented
easily. This is because the gating factor of any CD distribution would be the
time it takes to put the documentation in an easily accessed form.

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Keith Rollin  ---  Apple Computer, Inc.  ---  Developer Technical Support
INTERNET: keith@apple.com
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"Argue for your Apple, and sure enough, it's yours" - Keith Rollin, Contusions