My company too supplies software, and under certain conditions will supply .pdf
files for customer review.
The problem is that manuals also represent significant intellectual property and
creative solutions to problems. You are effectively giving all the competition
clever ways to design their aircraft. The europa control system is reasonably
unique, as is the strength/structure of the molded cockpit and ways to install
controls into this environment. If it were my company I wouldn't do it for
general consumption.
On the other hand, it would be an additional strong selling point to make the
.pdf version available to registered builders of Europas. As the kit market
advances, it is a way for Europa to stay on the leading edge (pun intended - as
their airfoil is 'leading edge'. One is still faced with the relatively easy
capability to distribute a manual in .pdf format even after it has been
purchased as part of a kit.
One solution may be to provide access to chapters on their web site through
password protection and do not allow downloading.
Cleve
On Wed, 25 September 2002, "Nigel Graham" wrote:
>
> If weight of numbers persuades the factory to make the .pdf manuals
> available on their website.....let me add my name to the list.
>
> Our company supplies engineering design software - and all our manuals are
> available for free download. Our experience shows that potential customers
> buy into the product. If you have a good product (and Europa do) it's a
> great selling tool.
>
> My 2 pence worth
>
> Nigel
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: JW xs191@attbi.com
> Subject: Re: Wing skin closeout spacing (pdf files???)
>
>
> I agree completely. The pictures in some cases leave one to just making
> an
> uneducated guess, or calling the factory, or asking this list. Why in the
> world
> would the availability of pdf files be a secret?
>
> Rob Housman wrote:
>
> In re: the quality of the photos in the printed manual.
>
> They are generally horrid, but if you ask nicely you might get the
> factory
> to supply some of the manual in Adobe Acrobat portable document
format.
> The
> color photos are excellent. Oops, I've let the cat out of the bag!
> Actually if the folks in Kirkbymoorside were on the ball they would
have
> the
> entire manual available for download from their web site.
>
> The Europa Forum is supported by Aviators Network UK
info@avnet.co.uk
> In the event of problems contact forum-owner@europaclub.org.uk
> The Europa Club website is at <a
href="http://mail.cswebmail.com//jump/http://www.europaclub.org.uk>";>http://www.europaclub.org.uk
>
> The Europa Forum is supported by Aviators Network UK info@avnet.co.uk
> In the event of problems contact forum-owner@europaclub.org.uk
> The Europa Club website is at <a
href="http://mail.cswebmail.com//jump/http://www.europaclub.org.uk>";>http://www.europaclub.org.uk
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