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We t/w's are subject to some distorted views of reality. Most
documentation exists to explain how to use products that are not
completely intuitive by nature. Imagine a graph, on one axis of which
is ease of comprehension. On the other axis is market demand. Most
of the work for us is at the high-complexity/high-market-demand
quadrant of this graph.
In today's market and measured in hours of work, that means probably
50% Windows apps., 25% Unix apps, 20% mainframe and supercomputer
apps., and 5% Macintosh apps.
However, *many* of us work on or own Macs (or both). That in itself
is no big deal, as a simple $99 program or $399 card happily runs PC
programs on newer Macs, and most Unix and mainframe systems are
accessed from x-windows clients or terminal emulation programs anyway.
A substantial number of new applications are going to be web-hosted,
making the issue of hardware less relevant (except for screen size,
resolution, and graphics adapter speed.) And the majority of web
sites are designed on the Mac.
The coming big event is that Apple is moving to an upcoming version of
Adobe's PDF as a native printing model in about 18 months. That,
combined with the advantages in power and reliability of the Mac, are
going to push the Mac even further into *our* market as the superior
tool.
(Holding forth, aren't I? Sorry!)
David T. Warren
Publications Manager, Nextel Communications ESD
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Cross Platform Delivery, was: Self-destructing documents
Author: Keith Arnett <keith_arnett -at- RESTON -dot- OMD -dot- STERLING -dot- COM> at INTERNET
Date: 6/9/98 10:49 AM
...I have received several offline responses pointing out that there
are various "off the shelf" ways...using existing tools in the MS
Windows environment.
This is indeed so, but the original post did not mention a specific
platform, and one of PDF's advantages is cross-platform deployment.
We are very much concerned with cross-platform compatibility here, so
the Java suggestion seemed a natural response.
However, these responses seem to indicate that some technical
communicators automatically think of Windows as *the* computing and
document distribution environment, and I find this interesting.
It appears (to me at least) that electronic document delivery is
definitely becoming a cross-platform affair, where proprietary
Microsoft software solutions will most definitely not work.
When it's time to develop new documentation and a related delivery
system, doesn't it make sense to choose technology that is easily
deployed on a cross-platform basis?
Or is this a delusion on my part? (if so, yet another of many :-) )
Keith Arnett
Technical Writer
Sterling Software, Inc./Operations Management Division Reston VA USA
