Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications

By Sangeet Sharma

A programmer writes the program and the computer executes it logically. Programmers do not have the liberty to skip any instruction or commit a single mistake from a set of thousands of instructions.

Microsoft is one of the largest software companies in the world. Thus, with their rich experience in documentation it is only natural that they share it with the rest of the IT industry. The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition (MSTP) is the latest step in this direction and takes care of latest technologies and technical terms.

Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications Third edition   By Microsoft Corporation Editorial Style Board   Price: Rs. 395.00   Publisher: Prentice Hall of India Private Limited Pages: 398 along with CD

MSTP is a set of guidelines to help Microsoft writers and editors maintain consistency as far as their products are concerned. Now let us see what these guidelines are.

This book consists of two parts, General Topics and Usage Dictionary.

General Topics covers basics like Tone, Common Style Problems, Grammatical Elements, and Punctuation etc. In this edition, the authors have recognized the expanding field of documentation and included four different types of audiences that a technical writer has to take care. They are, home user, information worker, information technology professionals, and software developers. There are plenty of examples, illustrations, and guidelines on how to deal with these different types of audiences.

Apart from the print medium, this edition gives additional inputs on the World Wide Web, as it is now the first choice for finding any information quickly. Though the visitors may know English language, two thirds of English speakers speak it as their second language. Secondly, they come from diverse cultural and traditional backgrounds. This may result in their comprehending the same message with different meanings. Therefore, the third edition covers the aspect of globalization of content, so that your Websites are effective and satisfy the demands of visitors immediately.

The second part of the book is Usage Dictionary. It is almost half of the book with 184 pages out of 398. This section shows usage of technical terms like "Kerberos protocol" as well as common words like "above". Here MSPT has tried to simplify the lives of writers and editors by reducing the number of decisions they would have taken. However, not everyone may agree with them.

This edition comes with a CD. This CD contains electronic version of this book i.e. "Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications Third Edition" in PDF format, along with two other useful E-books.

• Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition (in help file format)

• Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking, Second Edition (in PDF format)

Microsoft Computer Dictionary Fifth edition   Publisher: Microsoft Press Pages: 656   List Price of print version: US$29.99 (Available at online bookstores at lesser price)   File Size of electronic version: 5.17 MB

Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition

Microsoft Computer Dictionary would be useful for technical writers, editors, and journalists for understanding and writing about computer-related terms in simple language.

It includes all the aspects related to a personal computer like hardware, network, programming, applications, and database. This latest edition with over ten thousand entries covers the latest advances like Web authoring, encryption, .Net, Tablet PC, XML and Xbox. Even High tech jargon and slang is explained along with other terms; and Instant Messaging Emoticons and Acronyms are defined in a separate appendix.

The entries are in simple language with loads of detail for a normal PC user. When an entry has more than one sense or meaning, then all of these are presented in a numbered list to make it easier to distinguish the variations in meaning. The illustrations provided are of good quality and helpful in understanding the terms.
 

Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking Second edition   By Mitch Tulloch and Ingrid Tulloch   Publisher: Microsoft Press Pages: 1315   List Price of print version: US$79.99 (Available at online bookstores at lesser price)   File Size of electronic version: 65.3 MB

Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking, Second Edition

The authors have thoroughly researched and scientifically written this book in an easy to understand language. They have covered not only the networking terms but also various aspects related to networking like hardware, platforms, development languages, networking commands, etc. Readers will also find emerging trends like wireless networking, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), and Frequency Hopping.

As the title proclaims its pedigree from the Microsoft stable, it does a good job of being an encyclopedia of Networking as far as Microsoft Operating Systems are concerned. For the rest, it is not so charitable.

However, considering the spread of Microsoft products, it is a good reference point for Project Managers, Support Personnel, and Technical Writers.

Sangeet Sharma is  Projects Officer with Press Trust of India (PTI).