Online docs..
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Kagehi Jul 22, 2007 1:19 PM EDT |
Got a Palm for the express reason that trying to hunt through docs online, especially while running several things, or debugging, was a pain in the ass. Turned out the Palm is junk when it comes to a) storage, b) sane function (as apposed to everything being pre-linked to specific apps, with non-user changable databases that the files get jammed into, and other insane design choices) and c) it only sort of helps in "some" cases. The problem imho with online docs is that if you need enough manuals to stack a wall of them high enough that your boss can't see over them, trying to cross reference complex interconnections between things in even 4-5 of them, while you also have the bloody editor/debugger open, is a **much** bigger pain in the ass than having a wall of paper documents on your desk. And if you have hand written notes tagged to pages, etc., it just gets worse. Frankly, until we have, and can afford, something like a true ebook, which you can have sitting on your desk with 100% of your documentation and notes on it, that lets you mark pages in some real visual fashion, like you can postit pages in real ones, and where you can make note in the margins, and it *doesn't* run on the same machien you are doing the fracking development on, its still more efficient to have a book shelf full of manuals, "green" or not. Oh, and unlike online manuals, books don't *break* because some dll got corrupted, deleted or replaced with one that doesn't have the right "function" for some obscure tag or trick your "document" uses, nor can it be accidentally deleted, lost in the wrong folder, etc., short of theft, or moving the office and forgetting to pack it, neither of which are quite as likely as what does happen to documents on your network (usually). Why is it that "green" always seems, in some cases, to mean, "Waste more time and effort on X, so you can save Y, even though you also waste more fuel, power, etc., to do X."? That isn't solving the problem at all, its just wasting different resources. |
| mvermeer Jul 23, 2007 5:24 AM EDT |
My experience is pretty much the opposite. I find it a lot easier to keep track of documents on my hard disk than on my shelf. Even docs several years old. You cannot 'google' your shelf space. Nobody 'borrows' docs from your hard drive and forgets to return them. Sure, annotatability etc. can always be better. But there exists excellent software that does just that and does it well... the fact that you're not using that, but rather something homegrown (?), is no argument in general in the paper vs. silicon debate. If it is a solution foisted upon you, dll's and all, you have my commiseration ;-/ |
| dinotrac Jul 23, 2007 8:10 AM EDT |
>I find it a lot easier to keep track of documents on my hard disk That's fine if you don't do substantial reading in the presence of porcelain facilities... |
| mvermeer Jul 24, 2007 1:28 AM EDT |
> That's fine if you don't do substantial reading in the presence
> of porcelain facilities... Yes, I wouldn't recommend using hard discs for wiping... |
| jezuch Jul 24, 2007 8:33 AM EDT |
I'm waiting for an affordable ebook reader so I can take those PDFs I downloaded "for later" to a bus... Public transport is a wonderful way of increasing population's literacy ;) |
| jdixon Jul 24, 2007 9:29 AM EDT |
> I'm waiting for an affordable ebook reader... Define affordable. :( The Nokia 770 with fbreader makes a great ebook reader, but it's rather pricey (though woot.com just sold a bunch for $140 or so a few weeks ago). The Nokia 800 would probably work equally well. The Powerplay Vs is more affordable at $100, but since I believe it only supports text files, it's a much more limited option. You can find it at http://www.powerplaydevices.com/estore_powerplay_USD.php |
| jezuch Jul 24, 2007 2:28 PM EDT |
Well, I'm in an Eastern Europe, so for me "Affordable" means something different :) I'll probably wait forever... Luckily, I'm good at it. |
| jdixon Jul 24, 2007 3:28 PM EDT |
> ...so for me "Affordable" means something different . Understood. That probably lets out the Asus Eee PC then, which is priced at $199. It looks very interesting though, and I may be interested in one when they actually come out. http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=7317 |
| mvermeer Jul 25, 2007 12:12 AM EDT |
Yeah, I'm also drooling at the Asus Eee... have already an N770, and it's a fine PDF reader (and many things more) |
| Sander_Marechal Jul 25, 2007 1:55 AM EDT |
Personally I don't like reading much text from a small screen. I'm waiting for a decent reader with e-ink or e-paper that is actually affordable. |
| jdixon Jul 25, 2007 3:05 AM EDT |
> I'm waiting for a decent reader with e-ink or e-paper that is actually affordable. That will probably be a while yet, unfortunately. :( |
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