Question

The Short Version:

I want a single, comprehensive MSDN Library, up-to-date and integrated with F1 help in all Microsoft development tools.

The Long Version:

There are at least three products that want to install documentation on my workstation:

1. Visual Studio 2008 wants to install MSDN Library.
2. SQL Server 2008 wants to install Books Online, a subset of MSDN Library.
3. Windows 7 SDK wants to install its own subset of MSDN Library.

Although all of these documentation sets are taken from the same source (MSDN Library), they do not integrate well. The installers leave numerous Start menu shortcuts (I have four), each yielding a different set of content. Some topics are exclusive to one set, while other topics are shared. An obsolete revision of a topic can appear in one content set, while another set has the up-to-date revision. Duplicate copies of the same topic can appear within the same content set.

I was able to resolve some duplication of topics via this article. The key text is near the bottom:

…two copies of SQL Server 2008 Books Online appear in the table of contents. One of these was installed by the MSDN Library, and the other by SQL Server. To avoid duplicate SQL Server 2008 Books Online topics in search and index results, remove the MSDN Library copy of SQL Server 2008 Books Online.

I tried something similar with the Windows 7 SDK. I removed the Win32 topics from the MSDN Library, then let the SDK install its documentation. I now have up-to-date Win32 topics, but they are not integrated at all with the other MSDN content.

Is there any way to get a unified MSDN Library and integrate it with the tools?

Answer 1

I second mausch’s comment – a browser and Google is my preferred documentation searcher / viewer. You’ll always get the most up-to-date reference this way.

To me, the Internet is a unified documentation library.