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Subject:RE: What is not mandated is forbidden From:"Margaret Cekis" <Margaret -dot- Cekis -at- comcast -dot- net> To:"'McLauchlan, Kevin'" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 19 Jun 2014 14:05:42 -0400
Kevin McLauchlan asked, "Does everyone subscribe to the notion that customer
docs should contain only what is necessary? Is there a place for material
that is good to know, or that might reduce customer inquiries, but is not
necessarily critical to performing a task?"...such as "how 'discovered
vulnerabilities' are handled for our products."
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Kevin:
I've worked for some startups and other small companies that sell online
software products. All the information that the users receive is in a single
PDF (somewhat tutorial) User Guide that can be read online or downloaded and
printed by the user. These manuals usually include a short section in the
front or the back under a heading like "Product Support", which lists the
email address and 800 hotline number where users can report problems or
request additional assistance. If you and your management actually want
customer assistance in reporting and solving problems, or want to reassure
customers that you have a process for handling "discovered vulnerabilities",
I'd put that statement in the Product Support section. (I'd probably also
recommend that they add that statement to the Product Support information on
the company's website.)
Margaret Cekis, Johns Creek GA
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