I don't know how much longer this will be up, but there is a pretty funny HOWTO: Read the F**cking Manual HowTO on MSDN here.

-Lee

"To be civilized is to deny one's nature."

update Bad Lee, should have looked a little harder at that URL.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Totally OT Microsoft RTFM
by dws (Chancellor) on Jan 31, 2002 at 20:54 UTC
    To be accurate with the attribution on this fine piece of humor, it helps to look carefully at the URL.

    If after that you still attribute this to Microsoft, there's an RFC you'll need to read.

[reply]
      Doh! Missed that.
      To be honest, they used to have a lot of holes with the problem reporting (So you could publish bug reports on Bill Gates Anus., etc) so I guess I didn't look as hard as I should have.

      Still kind of funny, but I wouldn't have posted it here if I caught that.

      -Lee

      "To be civilized is to deny one's nature."
[reply]
Re: Totally OT Microsoft RTFM
by boo_radley (Parson) on Jan 31, 2002 at 20:58 UTC
    not quite...
    http://www.microsoft.com&item=q209353@hardware.no/nyheter/feb01/Q209354%20-%20HOWTO.htm
                                     ^
           indicates url has a username & password...

username=www.microsoft.com
password=item=q209353
http://hardware.no/nyheter/feb01/Q209354%20-%20HOWTO.htm
    Slashdot got plagued with these silly things a while ago...
[reply]
      Opera brings up a dialog box with just that info, warning you that you're hitting a URL with an embedded username whenever you do.

      Makeshifts last the longest.

[reply]
Re: Totally OT Microsoft RTFM
by belg4mit (Prior) on Feb 01, 2002 at 03:40 UTC
    This is originally a microsoft article though, I saw it 'lo many many moons ago. It along with the banana chocolate milkshakes were hastily removed upon discovery.

    It's also worth noting that the trick to obscure the domain actually causes the URL to fail in Netscape; at least the one I came across recently.

    --
    perl -pe "s/\b;([st])/'\1/mg"

[reply]
Re: Totally OT Microsoft RTFM
by Steve_p (Priest) on Feb 01, 2002 at 13:17 UTC
    The problem is that Microsoft stopped creating manuals to be sold with their software, even their programming tools, about six years ago. The help menus should have enough information for everyone.

    Microsoft, however, will gladly sell you manuals separately so that you can actually use their software. Strangely enough, unlike almost every other major software company (IBM, Oracle, Sun), you can't get the manuals for free from their website.

    Update: I realized from the start that this is a hoax page. This is simply an attempt at sarcasm.
[reply]
      "...you can't get the manuals for free from their website"

      <scarcasm>
      Of course not! Who in their right mind would ever give away documentation for FREE? :D

      I hear that pretty soon Microsoft will be installing credit card readers into all commercial desktops: Need documentation? Just highlight the key word, hit F1, and slide credit card. If the answer doesn't turn up, you will be billed anyway for asking silly questions.

      jeffa

      no need to close the sarcasm tag
[reply]

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