atw: Re: Guides and manuals [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

I'd just like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. My
general impression was that the word 'guide' suggests a more lightweight
document, though people weren't all agreed on exactly how it should
differ from a manual. 

I was interested in the passions aroused by the word 'user', though. In
the environment in which I work, that word is so well established that
I'd never considered anything else. I know that in other environments -
and in earlier eras of computing, as Michael Lewis said - people
need(ed) to categorise the human beings sitting at the screens. And here
we do distinguish 'end users' from 'administrators' or 'developers'. But
when I'm describing how to use a piece of software, I find I blurt out
Michael Granat's swear-word u**r, without even flinching, for the person
who clicks the mouse and types on the keyboard, whatever their level of
expertise.  

But it just goes to show that you can never know how someone's going to
react to the language you use (or should I say 'employ'?) ...

Howard

----------------------------------
     Howard L. Silcock
      Technical Writer
 Common Services SOE Program
Network Infrastructure Development
    Department of Defence
      109 Kent Street
      Deakin ACT 2600           
      (02) 626 58395  
----------------------------------




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