As a software development manager, A. Selvan sees his fair share of WTF's. Though most are suited for the likes of Dilbert comic strips, every now and then he'll come across a story that best fits here. Today I'd like to share one of these stories in the form of an email conversation between A. and the new Product Manager... 

______________________________________________________________________
From: {Product Manager}
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 8:41 AM
To: A----- Selvan
Cc: {Marketing Director}
Subject: Software Version

A-----, 
I've noticed that in several places (most prominently, Help-About), 
there is the product version, build number, etc. Please have your team 
remove this information in our next release.

______________________________________________________________________
From: A----- Selvan
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 9:03 AM
To: {Product Manager}
Cc: {Marketing Director}
Subject: Re: Software Version

The product version and build number are necessary to identify what
release the customer has. This is also key in our testing and quality
process.

______________________________________________________________________
From: {Product Manager}
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:29 PM
To: A----- Selvan
Cc: {Marketing Director}
Subject: Re: Software Version

Couldn't you determine this information some other way? We don't want 
the customers knowing this information and need it removed.

______________________________________________________________________
From: A----- Selvan
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:45 PM
To: {Product Manager}
Cc: {Marketing Director}
Subject: Re: Software Version

We really can't remove it from the product, but, if you'd like, we can
hide it further. However, it is very discrete as is: it only appears in 
the About dialog, release notes, and change log. But no matter what, we 
will need to keep it accessible for support. 

Either way, I don't really understand the request. Almost every software 
program ever made has release information like this. Why would you 
want it removed?

______________________________________________________________________
From: {Product Manager}
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:04 AM
To: A----- Selvan
Cc: {Marketing Director}
Subject: Re: Software Version

We can't be at all accessible to the client, we'll just have to find
another way. 

The reason is simple: when they see  "Version 2.8 (build 448)," they 
will think that it took us 28 releases and over *four hundred* builds 
to get right. 

______________________________________________________________________
From: {Marketing Director}
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 10:08 AM
To: A----- Selvan, {Product Manager}
Subject: Re: Software Version

This is a good point. This is *not* the information we should be 
conveying to our customers. A-----, please make sure it's removed in
the next release.
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