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> Remember, folks owning legal copies of the software usually get the
> books with the disks and CD-ROMs, even if you buy your software at some
> recycled software store. On the other hand, if you buy *just* the
> Microsoft Office 97 CD from such a place and buy a 3rd party manual from
> Fry's, you could be made a suspect.
>
It's been my experience for many, many years and with a wide variety of
employers that this is not the case. I know, personally, from a company
I contracted with last year, their contract with Microsoft did not
include the documentation for each package of Office '97 they
purchased. They got one copy for the sys admin, the worker bees were
forced to go out and buy their own references.
Also, when I bought my laptop, it came with Windows loaded on it, but no
documentation. I called the manufacturer said that that was the deal
that Microsoft offered, CDs to load the software but no manuals.
If Billie Boy thinks he's going to start going after people because
they've bought documentation for his products, his face is going to be
red when they point out the above types of practices by Microsoft, and
the fact that their documentation, when provided, is so poor that the
user is forced to augment it with purchased books.