Re: Why Tech-Writers Should Know About Open Source Technologies

Subject: Re: Why Tech-Writers Should Know About Open Source Technologies
From: Sean Wheller <sean -at- inwords -dot- co -dot- za>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 18:58:05 +0200


On Thursday 15 September 2005 18:44, Doug Grossman wrote:
> I've never had to spend any time installing Microsoft Office. I work for a
> software company, and of course they take care of all of those
> installations. I've also never had to contact Microsoft technical support
> (for business purposes). We have very professional and expert help desk
> support for anything like that.

Considering the Subject, Doug has made a very valid point.

The first thing technical writers should know about Open Source Technologies
is that you will be expected to be able to do things by yourself and use tech
support as a final resort. But nobody is hiding this fact and technical
writers in the open source world happily accept it. Just see this snip from
the GNU/GPL
~
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
~

Yes, open source means you must be prepared to support yourself. What most
people think is that they should, no are entitled, to get the software free
(as in free beer) and the world owes it to them to fix it when it won't work.
That's a fundamental mind shift for most tech writers.
--
Sean Wheller
Technical Author
sean -at- inwords -dot- co -dot- za
084-854-9408
http://www.inwords.co.za
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Registered Linux User #375355
http://wenzani.blogspot.com/

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 2005 converts RoboHelp files with one click. Author with Word or any HTML editor. Visit our site to see a conversion demo movie and learn more. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



References:
RE: Why Tech-Writers Should Know About Open Source Technologies: From: Doug Grossman

Previous by Author: Re: Spinoff: Using Linux for work? was RE: Why Tech-Writers Should Know About Open Source Technologies
Next by Author: Re: Spinoff: Using Linux for work? was RE: Why Tech-Writers Should Know About Open Source Technologies
Previous by Thread: RE: Why Tech-Writers Should Know About Open Source Technologies
Next by Thread: RE: Why Tech-Writers Should Know About Open Source Technologies


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads