Indeed. Look no further than screws and bolts, or twist fasteners. - slot head - Robertson/square-socket head - Philips/cross-head, with PoziDriv and SupaDriv variants - Torx - hex-head (Ikea furniture anyone? - socket-style (what's the correct term?) that is turned with a wrench or socket screwdriver - usually machine screws - ... various 'security' styles (intended to be difficult to remove without the special driver and the secret handshake) - etc. That's all in aid of fastening two pieces of hard material together. Every decade or three, another "standard" pops up for spiral, threaded fasteners and the driver/head to turn 'em...
And that's only one tool category and subset of fasteners. There are plenty more fasteners that need all sorts of tools that are not screwdrivers... and each of those has its own subsets for different tasks and specialty niches. There must be about six or eight basic styles of hammers, and an infinite variety of sizes and shapes. Saws? Don't get me started, on just hand-saws alone... before we get into the powered ones like bench circular saws, portable circular saws, chop/mitre saws, band saws, jig saws, demolition reciprocating (Sawzall) saws, spiral saws, hole saws, etc. How could techwriting possibly be expected to ... well... NOT follow that example? As a further observation, to keep this relevant, could we not draw a parallel between the dark thoughts (sometimes spoken aloud) that we hold for the people who hand us a document riddled with spot formatting or a million custom "styles", and the kind thoughts that we have toward whatever brain-dead !...@#$%$^&!! chose to use SLOT-head screws on the item that we now need to disassemble and fix? > -----Original Message----- > From: tcp-boun...@techcommpros.com > [mailto:tcp-boun...@techcommpros.com] On Behalf Of Bill Swallow > Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 2:18 PM > To: raj nair > Cc: tcp@techcommpros.com > Subject: Re: [TCP] Technical writing and tools > > > Does multiple tools restrict the opportunities available > for technical communicators? Why is that there is no single > standard tool for the technical writing industry? > > Because there's no one single need. > > Any argument for industry-wide tool standardization should be met with > a trip to the hardware store. ;) > > -- > Bill Swallow The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without copying or disclosing it. ______________________________________________ ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. Download Free Trial. www.doctohelp.comhttp://www.techcommpros.com/componentone/ Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email t...@techcommpros.com. Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to tcp-subscr...@techcommpros.com Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to tcp-unsubscr...@techcommpros.com Need help? Contact listad...@techcommpros.com Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
