Requirements to autorun/autostart CD

[Beth Agnew]

Identifying requirements used to be /de rigeur/ but do we still need to 
do that? Most people, especially in order to enjoy the Web and its 
content, have a system that will run your average marketing CD. Unless 
you are doing something unusual which may need requirements that are way 
above average, or if your user base is still in the 20th century and 
running on slow machines with Win95/98, I wouldn't bother using space on 
the insert to specify requirements. In most cases, if people can't run 
the standard CD, they're not such good candidates for our products, either.

Same for the ubiquitous "About this manual" and "Conventions Used in 
this Manual" sections in user guides. Most of our users are competent 
enough to know all that stuff without us pointing it out. Twenty, or 
even ten years ago, it made some kind of sense, but now it's just 
unnecessary.
--Beth

Nelson, Julie wrote:
> Another task I have is to develop hardware/software requirements needed
> to run the CD.  We plan on including this on the CD jacket.  For
> example, we plan on stating that PCs must have Windows XP or Windows
> 2000 on it.  Another requirement is to mention what software is needed
> to view the CD.  Isn't Windows Media Player automatically included on
> Windows XP & 2000?  Is there a Mac equivalent?  What are other
> applications (Windows & Mac) can be used to view an autorun/autostart
> CD?  Has anyone created a similar hardware/software requirements list
> that was included with a CD.
-- 
Beth Agnew
http://www.301url.com/podcasting

Professor, Technical Communication
Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology
Toronto, ON 416.491.5050 x3133
http://www.tinyurl.com/83u5u