Owner's Manual Format

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

What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit by the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)

"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

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit by
the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)


I would think it would be easier to find a place to stash a CD than a paper
manual.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

On 12/04/07 14:41, Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit by
the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)


I would think it would be easier to find a place to stash a CD than a paper
manual.

Well, the CD will be a little harder to thumb through while in flight ;-)


--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.





--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane, USUA Ultralight Pilot
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

Mark Hansen wrote:
On 12/04/07 14:41, Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
.. .

What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit by
the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)


I would think it would be easier to find a place to stash a CD than a paper
manual.


Well, the CD will be a little harder to thumb through while in flight ;-)


--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.







Print your own???

On 12/04/07 16:22, cavelamb himself wrote:
Mark Hansen wrote:
On 12/04/07 14:41, Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
. ..

What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit by
the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)


I would think it would be easier to find a place to stash a CD than a paper
manual.


Well, the CD will be a little harder to thumb through while in flight ;-)


--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.







Print your own???


Did you read what I was responding to???

cavelamb himself wrote:




Print your own???

So you think I can print a single copy from a CD cheaper than the maker of
the widget can print 100's?

"Mark Hansen" wrote in message
...
On 12/04/07 14:41, Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit by
the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)


I would think it would be easier to find a place to stash a CD than a
paper
manual.

Well, the CD will be a little harder to thumb through while in flight ;-)


Assuming, of course, you want to read it - as opposed to having it there
because it is "required to be carried in the cockpit by the avionics
certification or STC"...

:-)

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

On 12/04/07 17:50, Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
"Mark Hansen" wrote in message
...
On 12/04/07 14:41, Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit by
the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)


I would think it would be easier to find a place to stash a CD than a
paper
manual.

Well, the CD will be a little harder to thumb through while in flight ;-)


Assuming, of course, you want to read it - as opposed to having it there
because it is "required to be carried in the cockpit by the avionics
certification or STC"...

:-)

Well, see - that's what I thought the joke was :-) I guess it didn't go
over too well with some though ;-(


--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe wrote:
"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
What sucks is if the manual is required to be carried in the cockpit
by the
avionics certification or STC
(one of the other) Jim(s)


I would think it would be easier to find a place to stash a CD than a
paper manual.

But it would not be vast majority of PICs. Now you could say. "OK, then have
it in both formats. one for those that have a CD reader in the cockpit and a
paper one for those that don't." Then you miss out on any savings gained
from the CD because the per paper manual cost drop significantly as the
volume go up.