RE: weird product decision, must make weird documentation decisio n

[MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

Andrea Brundt [mailto:andrea_w_brundt -at- hotmail -dot- com]

> There's a new set of dialog boxes in my company's software. 
> They replace an
> old set of dialog boxes that did pretty much the same thing 
> -- inventory
> management. The new dialog boxes are a bit more usable, and 
> the new code can
> be reused in a few other places in the software. So overall, it's an
> improvement. Unfortunately for me, each client has a choice 
> -- they can
> stick with the old, or upgrade to the new. Multiple help 
> files are not an
> option, so I think I have to address this in the content.

IFF the software defaults to the new version, then I would 
document just the new version. Somewhere, even if it's just 
a throw-away piece of paper that goes into the packaging, 
I would mention that previous users of the product are 
accomodated -- they can use the old versions that they have 
already learned. Those are supported by the documentation 
in the previous version, that they already own (or have learned).

New users should use the new versions only, as your company 
does not guarantee that "Classic" will be supported in further 
versions.

/kevin

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