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Ask Slashdot: Why Does Almost Nothing Come With a Proper Printed Manual Anymore?

Posted by msmash on from the dude,-where's-my-manual? dept.

OpenSourceAllTheWay writes: As someone who grew up with 1980s and 1990s computers and electronics and still has whole boxes of lovingly prepared printed computer, peripheral, game and software manuals from that era, I am continually surprised by how just many products ship without a proper printed manual these days. Case in point would be things like Android phones. Android has quite a few not-entirely-obvious functions built into it. And a lot of people aren't even aware they exist. No Android phone I've bought has ever had a printed manual included in its little product box. Not even a small one. Even expensive laptops ranging in price from 2,000 to 5,000 Dollars often come only with a few sheets of printed paper in the box -- warranty card, where to register the device, URL for downloading drivers and so on. Why is this? It can't be environmental concern -- the electronics devices themselves, when thrown away, are a hundred times (if not worse) more harmful to the environment than a little 50 to 100 page recycled paper booklet would be. So where are the manuals? Is it the cost of preparing the manuals? The cost of printing them? Is it a few grams of extra weight added to the product box? Is everyone supposed to look up everything online now, even in places where there is no internet connection? And why can't there be a print manual option -- e.g. pay 3 to 5 Dollars extra, and get a full, printed manual you can study on a couch?

12 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. What a stupid question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, that's a fucking retarded question to ask and you don't deserve an answer.

    1. Re:What a stupid question by OrangeTide · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If any of you sat in a tech support call center for one day you'd realize that few end users are reading and understanding the manuals we've been providing.

      The most effective method is to include a small bit of colorful card stock in the top of the stack of packaging with something like "Quick Start" in a big font. Some users will see this when first opening a product and if you're really lucky they will try to follow directions the pictures and very short sentences. If all else fails a phone number and website is on the back of the card for a proper hand-holding experience.

      PDF downloads on the company website of a very comprehensive manual is especially nice. As I can search it, or access it from my phone instead of having to remember where I hid the physical copy.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  2. Go Button by h4x0t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Manufacturers are not interested in creating users who know what they are doing.
    Designers tend to be of the persuasion that if it needs a manual, it isnt user friendly enough, and writing one anyway makes them look like quitters.
    Users themselves just want a black box with a go button that takes them to pleasureville.

    1. Re:Go Button by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually the questioner answered the question already. It's cost. Manuals cost money to prepare and print. If there is a mistake it's not easy to fix. The add weight to the package which increases shipping costs. And in the end most people don't read them anyway.

      Go look at some computer manuals from the 80s. They are thick because they teach you how to use a computer. Computers were hard to use back then, often booting directly into BASIC. Even the GUI ones were unfamiliar to most people, especially first time buyers.

      Customers mostly don't like manuals either. They prefer stuff that "just works" or is intuitive, and only go to the manual if they have a problem.

      The only time manuals make sense is when you need to cover your ass legally, e.g. cars. Even they will stop getting manuals soon I think, since a lot of them are moving to over-the-air software updates that make manuals almost immediately out of date. Not looking forward to that.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. How is this a mystery? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They add bulk, cost and can't be updated. You may think each one is cheap individually but the costs add up when you have to print millions or billions of them.

  4. Nobody reads the manual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why print it when nobody reads it anyway?

  5. Dead trees cost money by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The internet is free. I find it easier to google the manual online than find the one that came in the box with the product. Next question...

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Dead trees cost money by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What costs even more than trees are the Technical Writers who make the manuals. Easier to just lay them off, and not provide any manual.

      - Also manuals were mandatory in the 80s. When I turned-on my first Commodore computer, it just sat there and blinked at me. I needed the manual to teach me the BASIC commands.

      And subscriptions to magazines like RUN or Compute to learn how to put those commands into useful programs. It was a whole different era that revolved around the printed word.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    2. Re:Dead trees cost money by NitroWolf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There's no CTRL-F on a printed manual, so why bother when I can use an electronic one and search for what I want to know?

    3. Re:Dead trees cost money by StuartHankins · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I miss Byte, Compute, RUN etc. It really made it possible to start from nothing and become proficient in a compressed timeframe. Typing the listings not only increased your typing ability (duh!) but they also made you more careful, since a typo wasn't always easy to spot. Sometimes a typo could take you on an entirely different path of exploration and sometimes it would lock up the machine. It was a really great experience that shaped my life.

  6. Online Manuals: by Hartree · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To find out why your smartphone won't connect to the internet, just connect to the internet to download the manual telling you why you can't connect.

    What could be simpler?

  7. There are plenty of reasons by bobstreo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First, most people have seen or used something similar to what they have purchased. This was not true when computers/software... was first available.

    Second, the printed material was probably already outdated when it was originally printed, much more so when updates to the software/microcode have been made.

    Third, the lack of enough (good) translators that can actually take the original language and make enough sense of it and carry that over to other languages.

    Fourth, If something is simple enough to use without a manual, why bother printing one?

    Fifth, Search engines with access to Online manuals and support group sites, combined with phone/email support can answer most questions. If you need detailed information, the answers a click away.