Conference vaxuum::document_ft

<TO>(VAX Document Engineering)
<FROM>(Bob Withers)
<DEPT>(CXO Database Systems CSSE)
<EXT>(522-3729)
<MAILSTOP>(CX01-2/Q12)
<ENETADDR>(Withers at Cookie)

<SUBJECT>(Emphasis does different things)
<Running_Title>(<emphasis>(<DATE>))
<Running_feet>(<emphasis>(For )<emphasis>(DIGITAL \BOLD)<emphasis>( Internal 
Use Only))

<P>

Problem: Emphasis does different things depending on whether the
destination is an LN03 or an LN01.  Compile this file for both
destinations and the then compare the results...

<note>(<literal>( ))

<emphasis>(VAX DOCUMENT is a batch document composition system that provides an easy 
way to create single manuals, large documentation sets or specifications.  
Facilities are provided to create, maintain, revise, format and print 
complex technical documents efficiently and easily.)

<endnote>

    
    The LN01 support is limited by the fact that we do not have a complete
    set of fonts for each type face and size. Therefore an emphasis
    tag will not necessarily produce italics on the LN01 (this is true
    in tables, for instance, as well as other contexts). This was well
    documented in BL6 and below; we continue to carry LN01 support,
    such as it is, because a large number of users have only LN01s.
    But there are no plans to do anything in DOCUMENT to provide more
    support.
    
    patti

You can make a bug a feature by VAXdocument-ing it:

>                                                         This was well
>    documented in BL6 and below; we continue to carry LN01 support,
>    such as it is, because a large number of users have only LN01s.

Does this mean that CUSTOMERS (you know, the ones who PAY for the product)
are S.O.L. if they only have LN01s?  I can see the calls to the CSCs
now...

>    But there are no plans to do anything in DOCUMENT to provide more
>    support.

BobW

    Why should the CSC see anymore calls because of no LN01 support?
    The SPD I'm sure will clearly state what devices are supported,
    and the LN01 is not going to be one of them.  How is this different
    from any other product that only supports certain equipment?
    
    -tl

    Having worked in the CSC, I can tell you that product users never
    see an SPD, much less read them.  The person who signs the check
    gets the SPD and files it with the P/O.  The "designated contact"
    or responsible individual, or user of the product gets the
    documentation and use of the tool.  He'll try to use the tool.
    
    Now, he does something that should be reasonable.  It doesn't work
    or do what's reasonable.  He picks up the phone and dials 800-525-7100.
    A phone jock answers.  Phone jock spends three hours reproducing
    the problem and finding that it's not documented (or documented
    well).  Phone jock never sees the SPD because it's in the library
    several hundred feet away.  Phone jock or customer submits an SPR
    because the product obviously does something simple wrong.  Repeat
    as needed.
    
    Another alternative is that the phone jock really finds the SPD
    or remembers seeing it sometime in the distant past and tells the
    customer that the product can't support what the customer paid for.
    Customer curses our products, progeny, and worst-off - the phone
    jock.  Customer writes an SPR or talks to Digital Review or Computer
    World or local DECUS LUG members.  Repeat as needed.
    
    BobW
    
    PS, I spent several years being a phone jock in the CSC, so I can
    use that term.  As for telling customers that the SPD prohibits
    their doing something that ought to work is not a pleasant experience.

RE: .5

I can empathize with what the CSC must have to put up with in those cases.
However, this particular lack of support is not simply a case of the
SPD prohibiting something that "ought to work". The LN01 is an OFFICIALLY
RETIRED product. As such, what ought to be true is exactly what is true:
new products (such as VAX DOCUMENT) do not support it.

I'm sure that the folks in the CSC are aware of which of our products are
still active and which have been retired, so I don't anticipate that this
will be a problem. As for internal users who have LN01s, we'll continue
to provide the existing level of support, but (as Patti mentioned) we do
not plan to enhance it.

--Brian