The news that Ubisoft and EA Sports are doing away with manuals, makes me sad in so many ways.
In truth manuals are a waste of paper since the majority of people don't care. However I wish that there was always the option to buy the complete package with a manual. Most people don't want disc either, for me I like the disc, it gives me the power to play the game without worrying about an Internet connection, and also means that when digital distribution is ceased I can still have access. Even with that said, I ran into an issue last year with playing a disc based PC RPG because the publisher messed up my account, rendering my disc useless.
We are fossils living in a modern world.