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Comment by userbinator | Hacker News Reader

I was looking for something else (automotive, but not related to pistons) when I came across this. The style of illustration and prose isn't so common in modern technical writing either, so it caught my attention and made for a very enjoyable read. It's fun and lighthearted, but that doesn't get in the way of being educational.

Some further searching reveals that there is a whole series of these with accompanying slide films:

http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Films/index47.htm#194...

Imagine if Tesla made booklets and videos like these for the technology in their cars... I guess 70 years ago companies were far more open with sharing such things, and willing to spend a lot more on it too.

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> I guess 70 years ago companies were far more open with sharing such things

Thanks for this post I upvoted a few of your comments. That said being a bit older and in business for many years (since college) I think it's the opposite actually. When I was 'growing up' in business you didn't share your secrets or give out any information whatever that would be helpful to your competition unless it was disinformation. So this didn't start with Steve Jobs and Apple it was pretty much status quo for all business. The internet changed that and I think at least one of the reasons was the involvement of academics who were more used to sharing what they knew.

There was a time when all electronics had detailed service manuals with discussion of theory of operation and troubleshooting checklists. Early PCs came with ROM listings. The techo-secrecy culture set in during the 90's.

Will Eisner's work in PS Magazine[1] detailing preventative maintenance procedures for the army was in a similar vein. It was presented in full comic book form though, and seems like it was heavier on the entertainment than the information.

[1] http://dig.library.vcu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/psm

now they attempt to void your warrenty by plugging in a cable, and they know because they are always remotely monitoring the car, and whats more lots of people agressively defend behaviour like that.

We are witnessing the end of ownership for anybody that isnt hyperich.

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