[ic] Pee-Poor Documentation Rant

[Mike Heins]

Quoting Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC (chad@shire.net):
> 
> On Monday, January 14, 2002, at 10:10  AM, Matthew Schick wrote:
> 
> > Ya know, this software IS free.  Meaning Mike and RedHat don't make a
> > dime from folks downloading and using it.  Their money is made from
> > doing development.  Why in the world should they pay a full-time staff
> > to write documentation that would actually hurt their cash flow?  I
> > always love hearing the rants of folks that get something for free, and
> > then have to bitch because they don't get exactly what they want.
> >
> 
> Actually it is in red Hat's best interest to make the docs as easy to 
> use as possible.  The more people use it the more critical mass the 
> product achieves which means more and more people will know and want to 
> use it which opens up more consulting possibilities.  If Red Hat 
> approaches some customers, those customers are more likely to use the 
> product and accept Red Hat's proposal if the software is well known and 
> accepted as an ecommerce solution, no matter who did the install.
> 

Having been involved in Minivend/Interchange for six years now, I have
invested a huge amount of time in trying to make it easy to install and
use. I did this partly for the reason above, to increase use. That part
worked. Not everyone installs the program easily, but a large
percentage do at least get the demo working pretty quick.

I have frequently heard the accusation "you make it hard so people will
have to buy support". Well, that part is not true and the evidence I
have to support that is the amount of (unpaid) time I have spent to make
it *easier* to use. Yet people will continue to make that accusation and
it doesn't bother me. I know it is not true.

The results obviously have not been perfect, but then again I don't know
many applications this complex that are easier. I don't know how many
applications I have failed to try out because their installation
procedure was 50 manual steps.

-- 
Red Hat, Inc., (emailing wirelessly, _from my laptop_,
on Perl Whirl in the Caribbean Ocean)
Geek Cruises (www.GeekCruises.com)
phone +1.513.523.7621 fax 7501 <mheins@redhat.com>

I have a cop friend who thinks he ought be able to give a new ticket;
"too dumb for conditions".