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RE: Real World Advantages of Office / Word 2007 and Windows 7
Subject:RE: Real World Advantages of Office / Word 2007 and Windows 7 From:"Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com> To:William Sherman <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 8 May 2012 20:17:09 -0700
William Sherman wrote:
> In one particular case I am thinking of, several software engineers
> wanted
> to keep the systems operation manual up to date as they felt the tech
> writers didn't understand the system software. Small wonder, when I got
> there, we were not allowed to turn it on or run it. I never got to see
> it in
> operation from start up, operation, and shut down. I got to see bits
> and
> pieces at various times because I was constantly going into the lab,
> but how
> was I to ever know how it work?
<snip>
> How they pulled some of this off, I still haven't figured out. The
> "solution", as wrong as it seems, was to manually put in numbers so
> that
> they didn't connect to anything. You have to remember these things were
> usually found 2 days before shipping, as the software engineers held
> this
> until the last possible day to include the latest and greatest code
> changes,
> and there was no time to fix it right.
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but if the "tech writers" don't understand the software, don't get to run the software, don't see the software in operation, and merely fix the formatting of the manual 2 days before shipping, they're not tech writers. They're clerical help.
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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