Comments on: IBM Binders

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:17:53 +0000

Ah, the PDBs: Pastel Denim Binders. That takes me back.

By: nimbus

nimbus — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:03:57 +0000

A friend of mine’s dad still has these on the shelf in his office.

I remember when the Mac came out, Apple did a commercial where they dropped the IBM manuals you refer to in slow motion with a big thud, then dropped the Mac manual which was a think spiral bound thing. Like the fact that it just had a wispy slip of a manual was a good thing (supposedly it was easier to use.) I preferred the big manuals… lot more to learn, there.

By: jen

jen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:44:14 +0000

I always thought that when you buy Windows Server that Microsoft should throw in the hardbound Windows Resource Kit for that edition of server. Or if you buy MS Office, the Office Resource Kit books, Buy Windows or a computer that comes with Windows and get a coupon that you can mail in for an actual printed user manual. etc.

I know a lot of end users, who if they had a physical manual for their software, would actually read some of it. And it would be nice to be able to tell end users asking inane and basic questions, “read pages 44-45 in the manual for that.”

Maybe throw in a few chapters on beginning programming and try to reignite the kind of home programming scene we had in the 1980′s.

Same thing from software from other manufacturers too obviously. But Microsoft is in a position to help set the standard.

By: Koos van den Hout

Koos van den Hout — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:57:34 +0000

To me the ‘IBM’ three-ring binder was a very weird standard, but soon a lot of computer manuals came in that size. I probably still have the manual for a mouse-systems mouse in that size. It was a very weird size compared to european paper and binder sizes. The computer club I was active in catered towards IBM PC and compatible system users and they used that same format for their shareware catalog.

By: Church

Church — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:53:01 +0000

Oh, yeah. Those cloth covers made it feel like you were holding something comparable to the works of Shakespeare. I had forgotten about them, thanks for the reminder.