Who actually has the MSDN Documentation installed?

[Denaes]

I normally do... but at work I realized that the interface is kinda lacking in the search capabilities I want and takes longer to load than a Google Query.

Google gets me what I want faster... and without taking up so much hard drive space. Plus its the updated MSDN without me having to install updates onto my computer.

I say to myself "What if I dont have a connection to the internet... and happen to really need the MSDN? Not bloody likely Im thinking. So Im giving it a pass this time.

 

[Igor Sukhov]

I normally do... but at work I realized that the interface is kinda lacking in the search capabilities I want and takes longer to load than a Google Query.

Google gets me what I want faster... and without taking up so much hard drive space. Plus its the updated MSDN without me having to install updates onto my computer.

I say to myself "What if I dont have a connection to the internet... and happen to really need the MSDN? Not bloody likely Im thinking. So Im giving it a pass this time.

Ive recently heard the same "theres no need for locally installed MSDN as Google way faster" thing recently. Ive been using MSDN since 1998 and although internet search engines have changed my search habits drastically I reckon theres a still few points to have it locally installed:

*Ive got quite fast broadband connection but local MSDN library is still a quickest way to do a lookup for a method prototype (intelliscence doesnt give me all the information I usually need), list of methods defined by class or implemented interfaces.

*When Im searching for articles in MSDN Im quite sure that the information I would find be from technology experts.

*MSDN library is reasonable well structured and carefully maintained - hence providing good "surf-explore" experience.

*Youve made a good point about not having internet connection or if it became too slow to be usable.

*Ive got 0.75 of terabyte space on my PC and half of this space is still free.

Considering all above, I dont think that Im going to give up installing local MSDN library for at least two coming years.

 

[Denaes]

Just to clarify, Im not talking about using other peoples documentation, but using the MSDN Documentation. This is written & maintained by Microsoft, not someone else.

Microsoft has the most up to date version of the MSDN Documentation online and fully searchable. Its the same stuff you have on your PC, only more up to date (unless you have a MSDN subscription and apply all the updates monthly) and you can take advantage of Googles superior search engine.

Im just noting that having access to both at work, I use the online version exclusvely. It also helps that I use Firefox and I can just start typing on a page and it starts searching for that text. So when it came time last night, I figured why spend the time/space installing when Im not going to use it.

I hope thats a bit more clear.

 

[snarfblam]

The MSDN interface online is poopy. It is slow and klunky. Even if you just view one page. It doesnt work with the mouse wheel in FireFox and the text renders incorrectly: some times text overlaps or doesnt scroll with everything else. The index on the left is useless. Not to mention, it doesnt remember my language filter settings.

Besides all that, this is how I use MSDN: When I need more info on a specific class, function, or keyword I will use MSDN. I am not lacking in hard drive space, and the locally installed MSDN documentation is easy and fast, except for the search. If I need to search I go to the object browser or google, depending on what Im looking for. The fact is that I dont find myself googling for .Net documentation very often though.

To each, his own. If you like MSDN online, thats fine, but it doesnt fulfill my personal programming needs.

 

[mskeel]

Ive got MSDN installed locally only because sometimes I need to do development without an internet connection while at client sites. Google is sort of hard to use when you dont have an internet connection. The MSDN browser is kind of annoying, though. And, as marble_eater put, the online MSDN is extremely weak -- slow and clunky to put it mildly.

This is sort of related... http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000500.html