The one question I hate the most

Subject: The one question I hate the most
From: siliconwriter -at- comcast -dot- net
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 23:01:38 +0000



"What do you need it for?"

I usually get asked this by suspicious managers and IT sysadmins when I ask to have some software installed. Today I asked to have the same OS (Linux) installed on my machine that the developers use, so that I can experiment/test our software product. I've already backed everything up and partitioned my computer. But when I asked the Powers That Be to install the same version of Linux on my computer that the developers are using to compile their software, I got rolled eyes, blank stares, and The Question.


Is this an unusual or absurd request? I am surely not the only technical writer in the world who has asked to test the product she's writing about, on the same platform/IDE/OS the developers are using. The justification for it seems so glaringly obvious that when someone asks me The Question, I flounder for an answer. It's like being asked "what do you need all this word processing stuff for"?

Suggestions? Hints? War stories?

Sarah Stegall

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