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Subject:Re: Release notes, updates & errata From:John McGhie <jmcghie -at- WORLD -dot- NET> Date:Thu, 17 Aug 1995 16:04:19 GMT
Rikki Nyman <c1043 -at- azfms -dot- com> wrote:
>A couple of us have been scratching our heads about the meaning of release
notes
> vs. updates. I have seen errata included with a document at the time of
> shipment which includes changes that occurred after the piece went to press.
> Are there working definitions of updates/release notes? Are they the same
> thing?
Release notes document restrictions and bugs discovered in the
software during final testing.
Updates add new information to describe changed functionality.
It is very poor form to put new functionality in the release notes (it
destroys customer confidence because it tells any professional in the
industry that your development process is so flakey that you have no
idea which features you are going to get to work until you pack the
software in the box...)
As has alredy been pointed out elsewhere, updates are a waste of time
because no user ever puts them in the manual.