Re: WinHelp on Vista
"Clear"? MS has already changed their official position several times on
this matter. Maybe the download will be canceled or be too kludgy. Or
maybe it'll work fine, and MS will let third parties distribute it.
MS never changed their position, rather they finally made a decision
on what to do. I believe their official position has always been to
drop WinHelp support since it relies on old technology that would hold
Vista and future OSes back. Their last decision (which seems to be a
final decision) is to allow for legacy WinHelp support via a download.
Also, it's my understanding that they needed to make some changes to
the WinHelp engine in order for it to properly function in Vista.
Let's face it, although it is solid, WinHelp is an old technology. At
some point it needs to be put to bed to promote technological
advancement within the Windows OS, among OS-friendly applications, and
of course within the community that authors user assistance for those
applications.
As Paul Hanson pointed out, some companies have no choice but to migrate
to HTML Help, _now_. Other companies will do better to wait until Vista
and the WinHelp download are both available in final versions.
Very true, but the decision to change now or wait depends on the level
of intrusiveness you want to "package" with your products, as the
WinHelp engine for Vista is not redistributable. Every user will need
to download and install it on their machines in order to run your
application's user assistance should you deliver that UA using
WinHelp.
--
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
avid homebrewer and proud beer snob
"I see your OOO message and raise you a clue."
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Follow-Ups:
- RE: WinHelp on Vista, Dan Goldstein
References:
Re: WinHelp on Vista: From: Bill Swallow
RE: WinHelp on Vista: From: Dan Goldstein
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