[Info-vax] HP stopping VMS paper documentation ?

[Jan-Erik Soderholm]

Fritz Wuehler wrote 2011-11-26 22:07:
> Jan-Erik Soderholm<jan-erik.soderholm at telia.com>  wrote:

>> 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.

You missed the point.
What I was commenting was reading the manuals on the VMS system itself.
This part :

 >> JF Mezei wrote 2011-11-23 18:58:
 >>> 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.

That was just silly. Noone would use the VMS system itself to
read the docs. Today...

> 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.
>

Then you expect to do all your work at some specific physical place.
Or do you always bring your bookshelf (the "wall") with you?

I do have an "office" but I'm not very much there. Mostly I work from home
or at the customer sites. The PDF's weight *way* less then the binders! :-)

For lookup reference I prefer PDF.
For *reading* I prefer real books, but they are never about VMS. :-)