OK, we have sections 0 to 5 downloaded. When do the encrypted sections usually get released? Not too many days to go until Kickoff!
When were the 2007 encrypts released?
According to the E-mail Blast Archive, the six sections of the manual (Introduction, Arena, Game, Robot, Tournament, and Kit of Parts) were released at 5 PM EST on January 3, 2007 (the Wednesday before Kickoff).
EDIT: The 2006 encrypted sections of the manual were posted on January 6, the Friday before kickoff, while the 2005 and 2004 encrypted sections were posted on the Thursday before kickoff.
I am the alternate contact for my team and usually receive all of the FIRST email blasts - haven’t seen anything yet. Let’s hope they repeat last year’s timing and make the encrypted versions available today - many are traveling tomorrow and Friday.
Maybe they are going to go old school and include a CD (scratch that, more like a flash drive) and a hard copy of the Manual in every kit again this year? 
Not being posted until AFTER Kick Off…I am 99% sure I saw it in an email blast no too long ago.
That’s what the website says also. I thought it might be a typo :ahh:
This season, the FIRST website has handled the traffic of registration well. Maybe they’re confident the site can deal with the spike of traffic after kick-off?
…or maybe something has fundamentally changed about the structure of the manual that might tip their hand?
…or maybe there’s an unusually short time between the holiday and kick off this year and we’re all anxious to get started. 
Now there’s an intriguing possibility.
…things that make you go hmmmmmmmm…
http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=7494 “The remaining game-related sections will be encrypted and available for download on January 5th, 2008, after the Kickoff.”
I’m not sure why they would be encrypted if they are not releasing them until after kickoff… but maybe I’m misreading it.
Perhaps you need the IR board to read them 
FIRST has their reasons, but I must say this is gonna be an interesting race to download before traffic gets too heavy…
If they were concerned about the document structure revealing something, they could provide an encrypted ZIP file or something. Or a very massive multi-section PDF. While their servers did do better this year, I’m not really confident they’ll handle that many downloads at one time. Nor would I be happy that teams at local kickoffs without internet access would be deprived of a complete manual to glance over before touring the field. So I’m hoping this is just a typo or misunderstanding and the encrypted manual will be pre-released per usual.
I completely agree Kevin. While the kickoff presentation does a great job of giving us an overview of the new challenge it also leaves MANY unanswered questions. And I suspect there will be many people attending kickoffs where they don’t have internet access available. A serious waste of travel time back home …
I would consider it a huge step backwards if the encrypted manual is not released ahead of time.
Would it be ok (as in gracious professionalism), for a team and/or some other website to put up the game manual as soon as it is released, as to lessen the traffic on the FIRST website?
Thanks
You’d need a lot of bandwith to be able to do this effectively. If the FIRST site can’t handle all the traffic, a team site won’t be able to either.
You’d also need to attain FIRST’s approval. And from what I understand, that’s not too easy of a task.
I seem to recall, back in the days when the manual was released at kickoff (no pre-release encrypted) they (FIRST) set up a couple of mirror sites for downloading. That was also before broadband was widespread and most people were using a 48k baud rate modem to download it. It took several hours.
Someone could create a torrent for those initial copies. (and have it widely publicized at kickoffs or something)
Just two quick comments -
1 - Remember, the FIRST manual is a copyrighted item. As such, you can not re-distribute or re-host it without FIRST’s permission. In the past, they have been understandably reluctant to do so, so they can maintain some semblance of version control if the manual should need to be updated.
2 - Since the 2008 FRC Manual is being distributed on etched stone tablets (as all great documents should be), it is taking a little longer to have them prepared than originally anticipated. I am sure that FIRST is making every effort to ensure that each team will receive their tablets at, or shortly after, kick-off. Please make sure you have a clear space at your loading dock when the truck arrives. *
-dave
- Really people, what is everyone getting all in a panic about? As already noted, in prior years the encrypted manuals have not been released until the Thursday or Friday before kick-off. We are not there yet. I think that there is a much higher probability that the statement on the web site is simply a typo or mis-communication than it is that they have suddenly diverted from what has been a successful past practice. Just give it a day or two, and see what happens.