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Have they told you anything about why the users want the information in
fewer documents?
If they don't like keeping track of four physically separate documents,
it's easy enough to bind two or more together. I can see arguments for
combining Quick Start and Cautions, and other arguments for combining
Quick Start and User Guide, and so on.
If they don't like the document design that separates different types of
information, you may just have to stand your ground and justify doing
so.
Maybe you can talk to some complaining users to find out whether the
complaint is a stalking horse for some other specific source of
dissatisfaction. They may be attributing difficulty in finding the
information they want to the number of documents rather than to some
other root (or more rootly) cause.
As for the release notes, I would hope they are changing more often than
the other documents and thus should always be separate. As a user I
prefer to have them available before I install so I know whether I want
to install. Electronic format is fine, but I'd prefer that it not be
sequestered on the install disks as overzealous IT departments may not
let me get my hands on the install disks.
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