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Subject:Re: Online vs. Paper From:Mitch Berg <mberg -at- IS -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:53:55 -0600
For me, the Online v. Paper debate is not so much an issue of "Where is
the Market Going", as "What do specific *User Profiles* demand?"
(Bearing in mind, of course, that a user group's management IS part of
their Profile).
I can't tell you how many times I've done online (FrameViewer, HTML and
especially WinHelp) dox gigs for companies that swore "Online is our
future" - and who called me back three months later asking if there were
any way to produce a print version of the project. Their users simply
demanded a print-usable version of the product, and printing the HTML
(or worse, WinHelp) pages simply isn't good enough.
I remember sitting through a lecture at the STC convo in Minneapolis in
1994, where Prof. Farkas (of the U of Washington, and noted author on
online topics) declared "Print is dead". A number of us in the audience
asked, sotto voce, "...and how many moons orbit your home world,
Professor?"
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