Yes, computers have changed this operation. Years ago, teams of technical writers would take a device or piece of software, learn how to use it, interview the designer and then write a users manual. Secretaries would type it and format it into a manual. Today, the designer does a lot of this documentation as they design it and then either the designer or sometimes a technical writer, or product manager using a word processor types it and builds a user manual. Technical writers are still around but in much smaller numbers. This job is often done by a product manager who has a technical background but often works in marketing or sales.

The same thing happened to secretaries. Before computers, secretaries typed all correspondence and documentation inside the company. When computers and word processors came on the scene, most people in the company started typing their own correspondence , often using email to send it. In many small companies secretarial positions disappeared completely. The small company I worked for had 8-10 secretaries when I hired on in 1985. By the time I retired 33 years later the company was larger but the number of secretaries was zero.

Reading manuals on smartphones and tablets is the future. Most of the younger generation don't even want the clutter of hard copy manuals. They prefer manuals that are highly portable, searchable, and can be neatly organized on their electronic devices into virtual folders; the hard copy manuals end up either left sitting in the box untouched or shoved in the back of some drawer to be forgotten.

A few years ago I also wanted printed manuals for all of my gadgets. Now, not so much. They are too easily misplaced.

Not including a comprehensive PRINTED manual with expensive, high-end equipment is a disservice to the customer.

Besides photographic equipment, I set audio-visual conference rooms for some of my corporate/commercial clients. Just last week, I installed $50,000 worth of audiophile-grade sound gear and a giant screen in a conference room/training classroom. The user manuals were pathetic- or even a detailed layout of the back panel of a $5,000 amplifier. Some of the latest manuals packed with the new cameras are equally inadequate.

Sure, I can access this material online and perhaps print out a 300 page PDF- but why should I need to do that. So-there was in a crawl space in the back of this conference room with 30 odd wires and cables, a connection panel with numerous RCS, HDMI, USB, optical and some stage stuff that I never saw before, so what am I supposed to do, set up a computer with a monitor or a laptop in the closet-like space. The silk-screened labels on the un itself have tiny letters, on the computer screen, they are even smaller. A real schematic would have been a godsend- so I had to make one! A comprehensive manual with maintenance information. After the monster is finally wired there are numerous setup procedures that are electronically controlled through the remote.
The attached image is just half of that back panel- imaging that with a cable in every socket and no manual- not fun!

Cameras? Cameras used to have a shutter speed dial, an aperture setting, a means of focusing and a film advance mechanism, Nowadays the menu in a DSLR or Mirrorless cameras looks like the control center at the Brookhaven National Laboratories. A manual for beyond the quick setup would be nice.

I am old but I am pretty darn tech-savvy so their "welcome to the 21st-century" business is nonsense. Why- we are not allowed to READ anymore, or have some reference material for future use. troubleshooting, problem-solving? De wh have to keep a laptop in our camera bags or the glove box in our cars just to solve an issue, review a procedure, teach somehow the use their camera, lens or another accessory.

You spend 20- grand+ on a camera a d a few lenses and the manufacturer can afford some paperwork- give me a break!

Hey- I got a great recipe book with my $300. electric mixer!

If I want to buy a third-party user manual by a prominent user of my kinda gear, but again, why shud I have to after spending all that hard-earned money on top-of-the-line equipment.

Oftentimes, right here on this forum, someone posts a question about an issue with their gear and someone usually answers "look at page 56 in your user manual" or just, " Read your manual! Waht manual?