Prod reviews--why not include doc???

[Colleen Adams <colleen_adams -at- MEDISPAN -dot- COM>]

I'm perusing my weekly edition of InfoWorld mag, reading an article on
why software companies' customer support is so poor in comparison to
hardware companies' CS.  It mentions a company (Prognostics) that
conducts surveys for the IT marketplace, asking them about not just
product support, but about other factors like product quality, deliver,
training, and YES, documentation!

(I have a point, and I'm getting to it...)  Which brings me to a question:
why is it, that when I read Product Reviews in various
technical/computing publications, I can almost *never* find 1 comment on
the quality of the doc, hard copy or online!  The only focus is on the
product itself!

As a doc manager, I would like to know how a product reviewer rates
the documentation that comes with the product.  It can give my team some
insight to user's frustrations and delights.  And, if it's a viable product or
maybe even a really crappy one, we may purchase it to grow our
collection of doc samples.

I sent email to InfoWorld asking that they begin to include this info in their
reviews but got no response...maybe I'm not looking in the right pubs...

Comments, recommendations, thoughts???
___________________
Colleen Adams
External Documentation Manager
First DataBank, Inc.
Indianapolis, IN
colleen_adams -at- firstdatabank -dot- com

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