Microsoft Manual of Style (was log on to NOT login)

[John Wilcox <jwilcox -at- tcsi -dot- com>]

Tara Charter wrote:

>Do you subscribe to the Microsoft Manual of Style guideline?:
>
>Use log on to to refer to connecting to a network
>and log off from (or log off) to refer to disconnecting from a network. Do
>not use log in, login, log onto, log off of, logout, sign off, or sign on.

Only when I agree with it.  In this case, I don't.  I've used "log in" and "log
out" for 14 years.

Just yesterday I read two articles in the latest Intercom magazine.  The
articles dealt with "CD-ROM" production.  Both authors (or perhaps the
magazine's editors) apparently subscribed to the Microsloth Manual of Style,
because they always referred to "CD-ROMs" instead of just "CDs" with one
exception, in which they were referring to a music CD.  I blew the dust of my MS
M of S to check their recommendation, and sure enough that is their usage.  The
reason I checked is that I almost always see data CDs referred to as CDs, just
as music CDs are.  Of course, the MS manual was written five years ago, so maybe
it's just not up with current conventions.

-- 
Regards,

John Wilcox - Senior Technical Writer, TCSI Corp., Bothell, Washington USA
Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of. -- Geri Weitzman