Many Bugs in Microsoft Technical Documentation


I believe I am a good technical writer. I have won lots of professional awards and I've been writing in the IT industry for 19 years. Yeah...until this month. Now I'm a causality of the Bush depression.

Many software developers and companies, especially very small operations, deliver inadequate or no documentation. You've probably experienced that. I have. Some companies make you buy the documentation (if you want it) and do not include it with the software.

You might think that Microsoft, because of its size and big pockets, would be a leader in good technical documentation even if it is not included with the product. However, this example offers some evidence to the contrary. And this court case involves just one area of the company's business. I wonder if these problems are more widespread?

This story should serve as a warning to those IT companies that do not employ technical writers because they do not see the value. I believe technical writers often save companies money by reducing the need for support calls and by protecting them against such lawsuits.
The number of bugs in technical documentation for Microsoft communication protocols continues to grow, according to court documents filed for ongoing antitrust oversight of the company in the U.S.

The technical documentation had 1,660 identified bugs as of Dec. 31, up from 1,196 bugs on Nov. 30, according to a Microsoft antitrust status report filed late Wednesday. Microsoft employees identified 613 bugs in December and closed 531 bugs, the court documents said. A technical committee working with Microsoft on compliance with the November 2002 antitrust judgment also identified 517 bugs in the documentation.

Problems with the technical documentation remain the major complaint from lawyers representing the group of 19 states that joined the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. Lawyers for the states have complained repeatedly that technical documentation issues, or TDIs, are opening faster than Microsoft can close them.
...
There are more than 20,000 pages of technical documentation, the court documents said. [infoworld.com]
If Microsoft would pay me to relocate or allow me work from home, I would be glad to give them a hand.
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Comments

  1. lisahgoldenJanuary 24, 2009 at 7:01 AM

    Anyone who has spent an hour trying to figure out how to find the right info in the help menu should know the value of technical writers.

    Did you see that Google is telling Wall Street to suck it and they've vowed to not lay people off? I would love to see more companies doing this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 24, 2009 at 11:55 AM

    Heh, I'm not sure Microsoft is redeemable. They act exactly like a monopoly, i.e., they don't give a shit about their customers. The latest version of Word is a great example: launching an entirely new interface and program redesign without any documentation at all, leaving power users completely befuddled as menu tabs and items disappeared or were reshuffled and capabilities disappeared. WTF? And who would guess (because that's the only way to find out) that the basic start menu is hidden in the program logo?

    Then there's their customer service. When the new version of IE made my computer crash about ever 15 minutes, their response to the problem was days in coming. By that time, I'd switched to Firefox.

    And that lack of documentation of which you speak, that's a huge problem. And if what's there is that buggy? Not much good, is it?

    I think they should hire you too. :^)

    ReplyDelete

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