Possibly, but I don't know where the inflection point lies. Before StackOverflow was a "thing," I recall noticing that it was easier to google spec documents o

Possibly, but I don't know where the inflection point lies. Before StackOverflow was a "thing," I recall noticing that it was easier to google spec documents on an electronic component even though I had the manufacturer's databook and Application Notes just across the room. The ease of searching the pdf on google outweighed the ease of getting up and paging through the physical book. The main difference was in Application Notes: I could sit down and read some of the better ones like a novel (I'm looking at you, Analog Devices :-) and that was easier with the dead tree copy than the online one.