[Info-vax] HP stopping VMS paper documentation ?

[Fritz Wuehler]

Jan-Erik Soderholm <jan-erik.soderholm at telia.com> wrote:

> JF Mezei wrote 2011-11-23 18:58:
> > Simon Clubley wrote:
> >
> >> This is on part number QA-001AA-GZ "OVMS Full Documentation".
> >
> >
> > Is there a separate line item for the documentation CDs ?
> >
> >
> > The question becomes whethyer paper documentation remains available for
> > purchase (say you have a new customer) or whether it will be digital only.
> >
> >
> >> BTW: Personally, while I use online resources for reference material,
> >> I still prefer to use paper for tutorial/conceptual type reading when a
> >> paper option is available. Am I alone in this ?
> >
> > Paper is often better unless you have 5 displays on your desktop :-(
> > paper is also necessary when you do work at the SRM level or very low
> > level (such as SYSBOOT) where your system has not booted sufficiently
> > for you to access on-line documentation.
> 
> Bull...
> 
> Everyone professionall enough reads the PDFs on a laptop or
> similar, not on the target system you are supporting, of course.

I disagree with this. I've been writing code for a long time and it was
definitely easier and I still prefer having a manual open on the desk for
reference. Switching back and forth from where you are editing code to a
manual in PDF is extremely disruptive, and searching using Acrobat takes
longer than finding the information in a manual (even a very large one) if
you know the manual from years of using it. Paper manuals are a clear win
on this alone. I like having a full set of printed doc around and I prefer
real books as well.