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Subject:Costs and benefits of documentation From:"Geoff Hart (by way of \"Eric J. Ray\" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>)" <ght -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Fri, 18 Dec 1998 14:18:59 -0700
Robert Maxey, responding to an earlier comment of mine concerning
documentation as a profit center, noted that <<I bought some software
- it cost me $225.00 last year. The new retail version this year is
$230.00. The difference is that last year, it came with user guides
and other documents. I opened up the box and all that is there is a
CD and a few sheets of regestration information. And a cupon to order
printed documents for $45.00.>>
A while back, I asked techwr-l whether anyone else had similar data
to present on the costs (and therefore revenues) associated with
documentation. Since Robert has broken the ice, I'll try again: does
anyone have comparable figures they're willing to provide? I'm
willing to accept private responses and strip the names off in the
summary to protect confidentiality... simply let me know what you
don't want to appear in the summary (your name, your company's name,
the product's name, etc.) and I'll remove the offending info.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca