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>I'm not a fan of Word for long manuals, and I prefer not to
> take jobs where Word is the primary documentation production tool. But
> I think the way some people hate it is a little weird, just like I
> think it's a little weird to looooooove FrameMaker in that sloppy way
> some people do, or hate it. If you can't objectively assess a tool and
> move on, how do you pick the tools for your projects?!
Better watch it: someone who sits on the fence is likely to be attacked
from both sides. :-)
Seriously, I'm glad you expressed this view. I was starting to think I
was the only one who shared it. If I have a choice, I prefer FrameMaker
to MS Word, but I don't think it's anywhere near perfect, and wouldn't
be overly concerned if it ceased to exist. It's a tool, not an essential
part of my self-definition.
I suppose that some people need something larger than themselves to
identify with, even if that identification is arbitrary and tenuous.
Working for a Linux company, I regularly encounter people who assume
that I rabidly hate Microsoft. They seem surprised that, while I don't
have much respect for Microsoft, that my major reaction is indifference.
It's the same thing in a different context: the creation of what
Vonnegut called "granfalloons". Some people seem to need them.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com
"I don't know what they have to say,
It makes no difference anyway -
Whatever it is, I'm against it."
- Groucho Marx in "Horsefeathers"
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