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Subject:Re: FYI: Re: Re. Certification rebuttal/follow-on From:scot <scot -at- HCI -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Mon, 8 Jan 1996 10:23:39 +1100
>I don't write for the government. But most of what I write is proprietary,
>and I cannot allow it to be viewed by third parties. I signed all sorts of
>secrecy agreements for my current client and for most of my previous
>clients, and I can't violate those agreements.
>How could I get certified on the basis of what I write, if I can't allow
>anyone to review it?
What sort of work are you talking about here?
Our company has a condition in our standard terms and conditions which
allows us to use materials we create for promotional purposes. Every now and
again we find a client who is unwilling to let this happen, but most are
perfectly happy for us to show the work to other potential clients. Usually,
we specifically ask about it.
After all, for software manuals certainly, after its released into the
world, there are copies of the manuals floating about everywhere, out of
effective control of the developer. The confidentiality clauses are usually
just for the period while it's being developed, and is not yet announced or
released. Further, ongoing proprietry trade secrets are covered in another
section of our agreement, and if they are that sensitive they will certainly
not be contained in the User Manual!
However, we do undertake never to -leave- the manual with others, just whip
it out of the briefcase and let them look at it for 5 mins. Online help is
more problematic, we just show it to them on a computer at our premises.
