Print manuals - keep or drop

["David Tinsley" <dtinsley -at- ndigital -dot- com>]

Greetings, 
 
So a program manager drops by my cube today and tells me "they" have decided that, to save money, we will no longer ship printed manuals one of our products. We currently provide the manuals in print, on a product CD and via a support site. 
 
 
As a background I should perhaps explain a bit about the product. It is a spatial measurement system ( http://www.ndigital.com/medical/index.php ) which we market  as the "gold standard" in the industry. My view is that after spending a significant amount on one of these systems I would want to see a print copy manual when I opened the box. Our manuals are more than simple "How to" guides. In order to use the technology effectively, the manual has to cover a lot of the underlying theory. 
 
Does anyone have experience of dropping print manuals and relying on CDs and website versions? Were there any negative outcomes from the strategy? Any positive outcomes? 
 
Thanks in advance, 
 
David
 
 
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