Online Manual needed (was Re: ISC vs SCO UNIX review)

[Support account]

In article <461 at mwtech.UUCP> martin at mwtech.UUCP (Martin Weitzel) writes:
>A rather simple solution to this problem would be an online manual,
>which ideally is allways of the same release as the system. I would
>even be willing to *pay* for this a little extra, if it's allways
>up to date!
>
Apologies if this has been received previously:

This is in reply to the current net discussion about the difficulty in
finding manual entries in various vendors' packaged UNIX products.  We at
INTERACTIVE Systems Corp. appreciate the concerns listed in the attached
message and have been working with our customers over the past few months to
better understand their documentation needs.  As a result of these
discussions, we are pleased to advise that the next release of the 386/ix
Operating System, release 2.2, due out in Q1 1990, will contain significant
documentation improvements.

User feedback focused on two related areas in our current product.  First was
the absence of on-line manual entries.  Second was the organization of manual
entries that may be spread out over a number of different guides.
Complicating the orginazational issue was the fact that the guides are are
permanently bound and thus may not be reorganized by the user.

We will begin supplying on-line manual entries at no extra charge in release
2.2 of the 386/ix OS.  There will be one subset supplied with the Base OS
that contains the User's Manual entries, and one with the SDS that contains
the Programmer's Manual entries.  Initially we will supply on-line manual
pages only with the OS and SDS.  We will supply on-line manual entries for
other 386/ix-based products in future releases of those products as demand
warrants.

We will begin supplying the entire set of AT&T manual entries in hardcopy at
no extra charge beginning with release 2.2.  Again, the Base OS will contain
the User's Manual entries, and the SDS the Programmer's Manual entries.  They
will be integrated with changes and new entries specific to the 386/ix OS.
They will be provided in 3-ring binder format (along with the binder itself,
of course).  All manual entries provided with our other 386/ix-based products
will be distributed in 3-ring binder format as well; the time frame for this
will coincide with the next scheduled release of each product after release
2.2 of the OS and SDS.

We are pleased to announce these positive steps addressing user issues
brought up in this forum.  (Yes, we are out there listening...)

INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.
386/ix Product Management


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