Re: How do I document vaporware?

[Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

In general it is bad policy to document futures. The documentation can 
leave the company open to charges of failing to meet promises of 
delivery of product, can telegraph plans to competitors, and (as you 
have mentioned) confuse the customer.

The placeholders for future development might be appropriate in the 
internal specification docs, but should not be seen by outsiders.

Your management can of course overrule this policy, because it's mine, 
not theirs. Their policy can be as stupid as they want, and I won't 
care. You might ask the company's legal department, "It is planned that 
this copy appear in the Rev. 37 version of the product. Should I worry 
about your plans for defending the company if the implied promises are 
not fulfilled in Rev. 38 this coming fall?"

Sarah Stegall wrote:
> Having spent half a week taking all references to a certain feature OUT
> of our software documentation, I am now informed that these references
> are "placeholders" for future development. This means that when our
> users (other software developers) browse through the command line
> interface or the help menu, they are going to find undocumented commands
> (that don't currently do anything anyway). 
> 
>  
> 
> There's no telling when these "features" are actually going to be
> implemented (software design plan? We don't need no stinking plan...).
> What would be the best way to mention these in user documentation? I am
> afraid our users will be very confused when they happen across
> undocumented commands. Has anyone else had to deal with this? Thanks for
> any feedback.
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