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I thought I should post this update to my little dilemma. A coworker
wrote a macro that will strip all spaces and all punctuation from our
five million page document library. In fact, the macro will take the
random, jumbled, and half-formed thoughts of our engineers and will
publish new documents automatically, without any human interaction!
Moreover, the macro will reduce the publication cycle to a few days.
Just before product FCS, we can run the macro to produce the product
documentation. The macro intelligently "collates" a database of notes,
diagrams, and specs written by our product development engineers, and
then produces camera-ready copy for use by our document control and
distribution center.
In addition, since the macro only uses the latest information from our
engineers, all information in our documents will be current and
accurate! There is now no need for review cycles. Our documents will
be generated a few days before FCS--ready to ship!
Since the macro runs a spell check and since there is no more need to
check grammar (because we eliminated all punctuation), our documents
no longer require editing. Consequently, we fired all of our editors
yesterday. (Will the miracles of modern technology ever cease?)
Alas and alak, my expected job security was short lived. My manager
just told me that since our documents are no longer readable by human
beings and since nobody reads our documentation anyway, my services are
no longer required. I've, I've, been fired!
Oh, the irony of it all. I've been replaced by a macro. ;-)
>At first I opposed these new style guidelines that eliminate all instances of
>spaces, apostrophes, and punctuation marks. It meant I would have to work
>around the clock for the next 10 years to make our documentation conform to
>the new style guidelines. 10 years without sleep was not a pleasant thought.
>However, after some more reflection, I realized that this made perfect sense
>in a twisted and warped sort of way. I realized that job security is more
>important than readable documentation any day! Still got to pay the bills...
Randy Grandle
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Project Lead Writer
Sun Professional Services
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