Re: New TECHWR-L Poll Question

[Chris Kowalchuk <chris -at- bdk -dot- net>]

Barry Kieffer wrote:

> I answered this poll, and was a little surprised. From what I have read,
> Microsoft Word is the predominate authoring tool with something like a 95%
> usage among technical writers - not because the technical writer choose
> Word, but because of a corporate decision.
>

That's where the bias that others are talking about comes in. I decided
to bias the poll by NOT responding, because I do not want to do anything
that might promote the use of a product (even indirectly) that I
consider to be inferior. This attitude might account for the response
rates you are seeing (and then, it might not).

I use Word for about 65% of my writing/DTP work, PageMaker for about 20
%, and the programs I prefer (WP and Ventura) for the remaining 15 %
(whenever I can). I would use Frame, but my clients have never requested
it, and I didn't want to drop over $1000 just to fool around with it.

Yes, we all use Word, live in smog-filled cities, work 12 hours a day,
etc. Do I want, even implicitly, to recommend these activities to
others? No.

For similar reasons, I never answer a poll unless its objectives are
clear to me, and happen to agree with my own, or unless I find the
question worded so carefully and neutrally that I feel there can be no
possible misinterpretation of the data. Needless to say, I don't answer
many polls.

Absolutely no offense is meant to the Rays here. I know their polls are
harmless and we can make of them what we will.

Happy writing with your tool of choice <g>

Chris Kowalchuk