Raphael,
As others have pointed out, there won't be PDF versions of the manuals
for good reasons. But going back to your basic argument, I do not see
how having manuals online makes learning Stata less "frustrating" than
referring to a printed manual. In any case, anyone can access the
online help for Stata free of charge.
http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?help
Friedrich
On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 11:53 PM, Raphael Fraser
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Message to Stata
>
> What I am about to say may sound a bit out of the ordinary but here goes.
>
> Along with each release of Stata comes Stata Manuals. These manuals
> are essential for Stata programmers and others but can prove costly
> for some. In addtion to selling print versions of the manuals, why not
> make its contents freely available online? Why would Stata want to do
> this? I think there is a large group of non-Stata programmers and
> other users that would benefit from this. For example. there are SAS
> and R programmers who would consider adding Stata to their programming
> tool kit. Making the manuals available on-line would indeed reduce
> "learning frustration" and make it much easier for those who
> contemplate switching. Or for those wanting to switch.
>
> What are YOUR thoughts?
>
> Raphael
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
