Owner's Manual Format

In our software business, we have abandoned including a printed manual
for free long time ago. The manual is included in file format and is
optionally printed for an extra fee. Some governments or large corps
want it printed - and we print it at time of sale with the office
printer and then get it spiral bound at local printing co. (~ $3). The
main reason is not the cost but product changes. I am sure that you
continually improve your products too and the manuals could be out of
date after being printed. Like a lot of companies, you could also have
the manuals available on your website in PDF format. See for example
Dynon http://dynonavionics.com/docs/suppor...mentation.html

On Dec 4, 1:16 pm, "RST Engineering" wrote:
Printing costs have been on a steady exponential increase, following right
along with energy costs associated with creating paper from trees, soybean
prices for ink, and all the rest of the process involved with creating paper
manuals.

On the other hand, the price of optical media (DVD and CDROM) is plummeting.
Anybody that has bought any computer electronic device recently soon
discovers that other than the single sheet "quick start" guide, all the rest
of the owner's manual is on CDROM.

I guess the real question is whether a 10-20% bump in the cost of an
aviation electronic product to provide a printed black and white product
manual versus 0% increase for a CDROM that can be done in full living color
is worth it.
.....

Why not do like many of the IT manufacturers? Distribute the documentation
on a CD and make the printed manual an optional extra cost item as long as
the printed manual is not required to be onboard the aircraft at all times.
The CD distribution brings another advantage in that patches and updates
could be distributed as downloads, or new versions could be purchased and
shipped very efficiently and at low cost.

Taking this thought even further, why not integrate the CD or DVD player
video output with an MFD if available?

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas

"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...
Printing costs have been on a steady exponential increase, following right
along with energy costs associated with creating paper from trees, soybean
prices for ink, and all the rest of the process involved with creating
paper manuals.

On the other hand, the price of optical media (DVD and CDROM) is
plummeting. Anybody that has bought any computer electronic device
recently soon discovers that other than the single sheet "quick start"
guide, all the rest of the owner's manual is on CDROM.

I guess the real question is whether a 10-20% bump in the cost of an
aviation electronic product to provide a printed black and white product
manual versus 0% increase for a CDROM that can be done in full living
color is worth it.

(BTW, we can do ALL our manuals on a single CDROM, so you get much more
information on the whole product line than with a single manual.)

Jim

--
"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right."
--Henry Ford