http://tc.eserver.org/authors/Abbott,_John_J. A bibliography of works by Abbott, John J. in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Abbott,_John_J. http://tc.eserver.org/13454.html http://tc.eserver.org/13454.html The movement toward open systems is gaining momentum. Those technical writers in the computer and software industries who have been accustomed to working in the world of proprietary systems will have to adjust to working in this new world of open systems. This paper briefly describes the open systems movement and then discusses in detail the implications of that movement for technical writers. This includes the challenges they will face and the skills they will need to develop. A brief case study of the involvement of technical writers in the Open Software Foundation’s DCE project is included.