PDF Distribution: Packaging with Product versus Internet Access

[Alison Craig]

Joseph:

We don't "only" distribute by Internet, *but* we do distribute most manuals that way simply because timing is always an issue. 

A software image may be created for manufacturing before my English manuals are ready, although the English manuals are also loaded manually at the last second as part of the mfg process (due to regulatory issues). I've given up trying to worry about timing now that we just distribute digital copies (hard copy only on request).

The translated versions are always added on an "as available" basis, which, of course, is never at release and almost always via the Internet (occasionally we mail a DVD if the client is in the middle of nowhere in Africa or Siberia and doesn't have access to a decent - or any - Internet connection). 

My caveat is that my company may not be a good example for you as we are a smaller player in the medical device industry, in no way comparable to Microsoft or Adobe (or even the medical device arms of GE and Siemens).

Alison Craig, Technical Writer
Ultrasonix Medical Corporation
Tel: (604) 279-8550, ext 127
E-mail: alison.craig at ultrasonix.com

PS: I love your comment re: "the engineering team's agile development life
cycle". Although "agile and *fluid*" might be a better description of my R&D team!
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Joseph Lorenzini
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 11:01 AM
To: FrameMaker Forum
Subject: Fwd: PDF Distribution: Packaging with Product versus Internet Access

Hi all,

I publish hundreds of pages of documentation using FrameMaker. I also use
Robohelp to generate help systems.

Does anyone know of IT companies that ONLY distribute documents about their
products via the internet and are NO longer distributing documentation by
installing it with the product? Off the top of my head, I believe Microsoft
and Adobe do this with some of their products.

For a variety of reasons, I am considering moving away from bundling
documents with the software's installation package and instead only
distributing the docs via a internet portal. If I did this, I would no
longer be at the mercy of the engineering team's agile development life
cycle.  This means I would 1) have significantly more time to document
features 2) the code is frozen so features will always be completed by the
time I start documenting them and out of date screenshots would be a thing
of the past and 3) SMEs would have more time to review my documents.

However, to make this sell to project management, I need some evidence that
other IT companies are ONLY distributing documents via the internet and are
NO longer distributing documentation by installing it with the product.

Sincerely,
Joseph Lorenzini
_______________________________________________


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