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Subject:RE: Wanted: examples of cost of failure From:jgarison -at- ide -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 13 Nov 2000 13:09:18 -0500
Back in about 1984, Coleco came out with the Adam - a rudimentary bundled
computer/wordprocessor. It was very innovative for its time, and sold out
almost immediately. However, they were returned to the stores in droves
because people just couldn't figure out how to operate them, or did things
that caused problems. Had Coleco interested more time and energy into
producing a manual written for a world full of never-ever computer users,
they may well have had an extremely successful product. Instead, the Adam
became a notation on the scrap heap of cyber history.
And, thanks to Google - here's a link to the actual Adam manual: http://drushel.cwru.edu/atm/atm.html!! You tell me if this was good
technical communications - Did the authors know their audience?
John
John Garison
Documentation Manager
IDe
150 Baker Avenue Extension
Concord, MA 01742
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