Software We Use

["USA::MU17692" <MU17692%USA -dot- decnet -at- USAV01 -dot- GLAXO -dot- COM>]

My esteemed colleagues,

Based on my experience meeting with many of my
fellow technical communicators, I guesstimate
that the distribution of hardware platforms in
use for creating documentation is more like

      DOS-OS/2 personal computers:  45%
      UNIX workstations:            40%
      Apple Macintosh:              13%
      Other                         <2%

rather than a 90/10 DOS-to-Macontosh distribution
someone suggested on a recent post.

On the UNIX workstations technical communicators
typically use Interleaf or FrameMaker, the
computing environment these programs were originally
designed for. Big companies that produce large
or many documents invest in the UNIX systems.
These systems tend to be less flexible but much
more stable and powerful.

Managers who want to take the safe, inexpensive
route go with the DOS/Windows machines.

I have used all of the above, including "other."
With the exception of "other," my preference
depends on the job at hand. At home, I own both
a Macintosh and a PC, and I use both. If I could
afford a UNIX workstation, I'd buy one of those
too. ;-) (I've also hated using the *other*
systems.)

The only complaint I have is that DOS & Windows
manage memory very poorly and crash easily. My
guess is that Bill will let us down with Windows
95. It will look great but crash just as much
as Windows 3.11 does and manage memory just as
poorly.

And that's my $0.02.

-Mike Uhl (uhl~m -at- glaxo -dot- com)
 Glaxo Inc. Research Institute
 Research Triangle Park, NC