what happened to software docs 20 september, 1999 by johnmichael patrick monty monteith

I purchased a DVD player a couple of days ago. Digital Video Disc, or Versatile Disc or whatever they want to call it this week. Not to get too far off subject, but DIVX, the company that made the 'disposable DVD discs' (how American) went belly-up (big surprise). So Circuit City was disposing of DVD players that were also DIVX players for cheap. Well, in about a year it will not seem cheap, but that is technology for you. Anyway, I am getting off subject. I bought this new piece of high tech equipment and inside I found a manual. Or what seemed to be a manual. That was a surprise all on it's own. I had purchased essentially a CD player for movies, and here was this thick instruction book that came with it. I was almost giddy at the site. 'Wow, a real manual.' Sure, most people would look at it and say 'damn, I didn't know it was going to be this complicated. I am going to take it back.' Me? I look at it and get overly excited because it takes me down memory lane. (Yes, I know. I really do need a life.)

In fact, when I started looking through this manual I realized that although it was a 120 page book, 20 pages were legal nonsense, 10 pages were instructions, and the rest of the pages were those same instructions in every language under the sun. (Although, it was exciting to see I could find out how to say 'remote control' in Italian. That is going to come in handy.)

Still, that moment of excitement of seeing a real manual got me thinking about the last time I saw a manual for a software product. An actual printed book on the features and how-to's of a major (or not so major) piece of software. It occurred to me that the last time I saw one was probably at least five years ago. Of course, my memory is not much good beyond a couple of weeks ago, but if I recall correctly the last manual I found was for Final Writer, a word processing program. For my Commodore Amiga. I can not think of a good one since.

There was a day in the software industry, many years gone by, that when you spent a significant amount on software, you got a little something for your money besides the program itself. Remember the old days of WordPerfect when one needed a forklift to haul out the software? I remember working in a software store and dreading when a customer would ask to buy a copy of WordPerfect because it meant I had to go in back and lug out this fifty kilogram piece of software. Okay, I exaggerate slightly, but not as much as you might think. That box was huge.

Part of the reason everyone was buying WordPerfect was because the manuals were so remarkable. When you went over to a friend's house that owned WordPerfect, the box took up half of the spare bedroom. You could not help but be impressed.

'Wow, you own WordPerfect.'
'Why, yes. Yes, I do.'

Rarely did anyone come in to the software store asking for a book on WordPerect. Well, that is not true. Quite a few people did. But that is because they had a pirated copy of the software. In fact, I always thought that if law enforcement really wanted to catch software thieves, all one needed to do back then was wait for people coming in to buy computer books. The people that owned the software had the best documentation on the software, so you knew those buying the books were thieves.

I remember a couple of moments when people would come in to purchase a book on WordPerfect and explain to me that they had lost the book, essentially trying to convince me that they were not a pirate. Back then the manuals were the biggest argument against stealing software.

Not only did these instructions weigh a lot, but they actually served a purpose. These were excellent manuals that walked a novice through using the program. They also were brilliant for researching details about the software that the experts did not know. Essentially, software manufacturers had to be book publishers as well, and they were generally quite good at it. After all, who better to write the book on a program than the folks that wrote the software?

Things have changed. You would be hard pressed to purchase any piece of software that had significant documentation with it, other than how to install the program. Microsoft Office 2000 comes with a 12 page pamphlet explaining a couple of items. Like, 'this is the CDROM with your software'. I tell you, the brochure I received from going to the Grand Canyon this summer had more useful information on writing a Word document than that pamphlet Microsoft published.

It is safe to say that this whole software manual problem is completely Microsoft's fault. (And also a safe bet that I am not the first to utter those words.) Microsoft has been the pioneer on including less and less documentation with software as the years go by to the point now where they essentially include none. Unfortunately, because the world follows Microsoft, every other software manufacturer had to follow suit.

I can hear the Microsoft die-hard (note: singular) screaming at me now saying that 'no, they now include the documentation on the software CDROM'. Yeah, right. First, I have looked at this supposed documentation, and it is an after-thought. Nine times out of ten the help-documentation in the program is absolutely worthless. The other time it is mildly interesting, showing me something that I am glad I learned but was not what I was looking for. But, lets say for the sake of argument that the help-manual someday did become useful. Can you imagine sitting in front of your computer reading a full manual? It is not going to happen. Instead, the user would have to print out all of the pages, which they will not because the manual is worthless. Ultimately, what this means is that if you are new to a piece of software, you are going to have to buy a book on it. This, of course, makes no sense since they probably just spent a fortune on the software.

The next argument is: Much of the support is now available online through the Internet. Especially troubleshooting tips and such. This is somewhat true. Thanks to the Internet it is possible to go to the online company 'Knowledge Base' and find out about bugs and fixes in nearly real-time. If (and this is a big 'if') you can actually find the problem you are looking for. The fact is that printed manuals are very nice for narrowing down problems from the 'obvious' to the 'very recent incompatibility with Internet Explorer 5.2343a'. Unfortunately, that narrowing down option is no longer available. Not to mention, this reliance on the Internet for what should have been included with the software assumes that a person has reliable access to the Internet. I imagine there are folks who purchased Office 2000 that are not wired, or have a connection that is less than perfect for spending hours looking for bug fix issues. Not to mention that even if you do have a great connection to the Internet, chances are it is still less convenient than grabbing a manual.

The final argument is cost. This one is the most acceptable of all of them. I have long said that Microsoft has been a pioneer at lowering the cost of software (at the cost of competition). One of the ways they have been able to afford this is by hiring one person to write the manuals, both printed and online, for every piece of software Microsoft makes. (Okay, maybe two people.) This significantly helps profitability, not even including the savings in printing, shipping, and packaging. It is also a boost to tech support income since there is no longer a manual to help people through their problems. What a fabulous money maker! 'Gee, Bill, you're a genius.'

Of course, blaming it all on Microsoft is a cop-out. You and me, the consumers, are the ones buying software that does not have manuals. A few years ago we opted for Microsoft Word with little documentation over the old overly-documented WordPerfect. We had a choice, and we all voted with our pocket books. We chose to do without manuals. In retrospect, it seems like a bad decision.

Imagine how much easier computers would be if software shipped with adequate printed documentation? Grandma and Granpa might actually be able to figure out one or two of the computer problems on their own without calling their grandson for the answer. Even the so-called computer gurus would be happy knowing they had a printed manual they could go to for reference on some command or issue they just ran into.

Okay. Who am I kidding? Bottom line: Having a bunch of manuals sitting in the computer room just plain looks cool. Sure, I have a bunch of software CD's, but the 'awe-inspiring computer guru factor' just does not come through without the abundance of tech-books.

So, when I see a 120 page manual for an over-glorified CD player, I can not help but get a little nostalgic. I even sometimes wish for the old days when I had to pull out the fork-lift to sell yet another copy of WordPerfect. Then watch the customer try to lug it out of the computer store with one hand, drop it on their foot, and I call 911 for an ambulance. Ah, the good old days. It almost brings a tear to my eye.