I was there and I do remember this. But extra material
on the website and .pdf or other versions of the manual
on disk could be different propositions. And in any
case StataCorp, like Keynes in other contexts, can
change their minds if they decide they were wrong.
There is another take on this that everyone can consider.
Look into your hearts. Imagine this scenario:
1. You pay money for a disk version of the manuals.
2. Your colleagues, students, partners, children, pets come
to you and say "I hear you have the Stata manuals on CD.
May I borrow the disk to copy the files?"
If you would say "Yes", you are part of the problem.
Many, perhaps most, of those unpaid copies would not be
lost sales, but some would be. That is the nub. And
copies can become other copies, as we all know.
Of course, anyone could photocopy the printed manuals, but
evidently that's less attractive except for small
sections.
Nick
[email protected]
Philip Ryan
> At 11:28 PM 28/02/2007 +0000, Nick Cox wrote:
>
>
> ...snip
>
> >Like it or not, StataCorp has invested
> >a vast amount in its documentation for sale and wholesale
> >duplication of the manuals for open access just is not
> >likely. We can all agree that it would be useful if it
> >were there, but it is not going to happen. That's my
> >guess, at least.
>
> .. and in fact we can do better than guess. As Nick will
> remember, Bill G
> himself told us at last year's Australian and New Zealand Stata Users
> meeting that StataCorp had no intention of releasing
> electronic versions of
> the manuals. He was quite adamant on this point. It did not
> seem to be a
> matter of price - more a matter of protecting Stata's IP
> rights in a world
> of illegal copying/piracy etc. Bill did suggest though that
> the help files
> might contain more content - the graphics help was cited as
> an example of
> the way Stata was heading. Presumably that SAS provides a CD
> version of
> manuals and Stata does not reflects the different business
> models of the
> two companies.
>
> My own experience (with all the manuals since Release 3) is that they
> represent one of the better investments one can make - but of course
> investments are costly and not accessible to everyone. I
> wonder if there
> is a trade in version 8 manuals on eBay?
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