Survey on CD-ROM usage

Informix Publications and Production Departments Survey on CD-ROM This questionnaire is to help us plan our use of CD-ROM technology for the next few years. Please don't take anything in this as a promise (or even a vague hint) of a specific product in any specific time. But if you want to influence our thinking on future directions, this is one way to do it! Please, -- DO send your response by email to: doc@informix.com -- DO use the word "survey" in the subject line. -- do ***NOT*** post your response as a public reply on this network or mailing list. (We're very interested but others aren't!) We will post a summary of the results to the same networks/lists. Answer each of the following questions for two time periods, "now" and "two years from now" (1994). (1) Product delivery: It has been suggested that Informix ship executable products (such as database engines) on CD-ROM media, as contrasted to more conventional media such as tape. (a) Could your company use Informix products delivered on CD-ROM? now: 1994: (if "no" to both, then when? ever? _________ ) (b) Would this be preferable to products on tape or diskette? now: 1994: (if "no" to both, then when? ever? _________ ) (2) Documentation delivery: It has been suggested that Informix offer its documentation on CD-ROM. Such an disk might include multiple manuals plus an on-line viewer that supported full-text search and retrieval. Would your company be interested in CD-ROM documentation... (a) As a supplementary product priced separately from other products? now: 1994: (if "no" to both, then when? ever? _________ ) (b) As the standard documentation, with printed books available only at extra cost? now: 1994: (if "no" to both, then when? ever? _________ ) (3) Equipment available: For this question, let "reader" mean "a person who often needs to use an Informix manual." At your company, what percentage of readers: (a) use character-based terminals (including PCs emulating terminals)? now: 1994: (b) use graphics-oriented workstations, X-terms, Macs, or PCs with Windows; in short, sit in front of bit-mapped screens? now: 1994: (c) have access to a dedicated CD-ROM drive attached to their workstation or computer? now: 1994: (b) have access to a CD-ROM drive or CD jukebox via local network? now: 1994: (4) Page layout: Suppose you had interactive access to Informix manuals. The manual on screen is typically not an exact image of the printed book. How important is it that the pagination on the screen be just the same as the book? __ very important, I need to move between the two media rapidly __ nice to have but I can go between them using index or table of contents __ not important, I will only use one or the other medium For your uses of an online manual, how would you feel about a feature that tells you the book-page-number of the text you are reading, but only when you specifically ask for it? __ not good enough, I want to see true page images __ that would be good enough for my uses __ couldn't care less, I will only use one medium (5) Future environments: Over the next 5 years, which of these graphical user interfaces do you think will be most important to the Informix users in your company? Rank from "1" the most important (or only), through "n" the least important. __ Microsoft Windows __ X-windows/Motif __ X-windows/OpenLook (including Sun Open Windows) __ Macintosh System 7 __ OS/2 Presentation Manager __ Windows/NT __ other:______________________________ Thanks for your participation. We hope you found this an enjoyable exercise. If you want to add personal comments, that's fine; we'll read them! Again: PLEASE do not post a public reply to a network or mailing list, it only irritates people. MAIL your response to the address given at the top. Thanks again!