[scribus] Really basic questions

[Ken Springer]

Hi, John,

I remember the manual that came with Word Perfect 5.  I don't think there
was anything in the program you couldn't eventually find in the manual.

As we've discussed this here, it occurs to me, I wonder if some program
developers of both paid and open source software are starting to simply
assume that some things are now universally known by all computer users.  I
have to say, if that's true, it's one really bad assumption.

No one is born with the information, you have to learn it.  And I've noticed
a dearth of simple explanations of computers and the basics.  The "Dummies"
books are good, but not good enough, IMO.

LIke you've already done, I'm moving to open source.  And I've been
recommending it to friends and family.  But I'm backing away from that
because of poor documentation.

ooO is a good example.  I've started using it, and have had the success with
it I've had, not because of the help files, but because I've been using MS
Office since 4.3!  My basic complaint about the help files of ooO is they
tend to tell you X can be done, but not how to do it.  :-(

My solution for the 8.5 X11 three-ring binder is to print 2-up in
landscape.  That really seems to work decently, but it would be nice to have
access to a duplexing printer.  I used to try something along the odd/even
page printing, but if would fail when doing the 2-up idea.  :-(

On Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 3:11 PM, John Culleton <john at wexfordpress.com>wrote:

> On Saturday 29 January 2011 16:29:06 Rob Oakes wrote:
> > On Jan 29, 2011, at 2:20 PM, a.l.e wrote:
> > > or 20 years ago were vendors providing software and manuals for
> > > free?
> >
> > No, but they did provide manuals and product documentation. I
> > understand why this is near impossible for open source (and I think
> > that selling high quality documentation is a perfectly valid
> > revenue strategy), but when was the last time you saw a paid
> > application shipped with good quality documentation (that wasn't a
> > web page)?
> >
> > The copy of Microsoft Office 2007 I bought a couple of years ago
> > includes online help and no manual. Even there, half of the links
> > are dead or point to 2010 which includes a different way of doing
> > things. I understand the original posters complaint.
> >
> > It's impossible to RTFM when there isn't an FM.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Rob
> > _______________________________________________
> > scribus mailing list
> > scribus at lists.scribus.net
> > http://lists.scribus.net/mailman/listinfo/scribus
>
> On mainframes the software was rented and the manuals were free. But
> the rental on the machine, OS and compilers etc. was thousands per
> month.  So we can't compare to those days.
>
> When I bought a Windows version of Delphi I got about ten different
> manuals with it. And I bought about three books besides.
>
> Now I run Open Source exclusively. Buying a book now and then is the
> price I pay.  The freebie manuals can be printed out but they are
> clumsy to use at 8.5 x 11 inches, even in a ring binder.
> --
> John Culleton
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>
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>



-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken Springer

"All progress depends upon the unreasonable person."
George Bernard Shaw


Cheap prices make for cheap goods; cheap goods make for
cheap men; and cheap men make for a cheap country!"
President William McKinley


http://www.greeleynet.com/~wordwork/airpage.htm
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