Rich: You asked for comments on User-Friendliness of standards. This is going to sound completely naïve but this is what I would like to see.
Technical standards are written for engineers to use, however they appear to be written by lawyers and bureaucrats. I would like to see the plethora of local and "international" standards replaced by a few simple standards. (This is the utopia part) Something like: 1. No government is permitted to use these standards for the purpose of interfering with trade, commerce or art. 2. Your product or service may not cause harm to people, animals, or property unless it is designed for that purpose. See annex one for the known methods of construction design and or usage that cause harm. 3. Your product or service may not interfere with the operations of other man made systems unless it is designed for that purpose. See annex two for the known modes of interference. 4. Consult applicable local law enforcement for a list of prohibited (or for EU, etc.; permitted) harm and interference. I suggest that the information in the annexes be written such that no interpretation is possible, i.e. all specifications are quantitative. In place where this gets difficult, specify results, not methods. In each instance a hypothetical example of the possible harm or interference would be included. For any statement of risks, quantitative information will be supplied for engineers to evaluate their designs against. If calculations are required in anything, formulae will be provided. I would suggest that these annexes be written from the ground up and organized such that an engineering team could find construction or design method information in less than five minutes. I further suggest that the latest computer technology be applied to the problem of assisting engineers in this search task. I.e. the standards would NOT be a sheaf of paper documents, it would be computer searchable media. (No more file cabinets filled with dead trees, thank you very much.) Lastly, I suggest that the funding for the development and maintenance of these standards be in the form of a .001% tax on gross sales (or .001% of annual budget for non profit organizations) levied on all companies and organizations regulated. These standards are to be provided free of any other charges. Now I know this would put many people out of work due to the ease of interpreting these new world standards, but you asked about user friendliness. I also recognize that this strikes at the very heart of traditional regulatory thinking. It does however embody basic human rights, not to be harmed or interfered with by another person. It would enable engineers to concentrate on these important principles instead of splitting hairs with people bent on controlling. If you think my suggestion is absurd, please feel free to ignore me. Just MY thoughts on a Friday morning! Bob Collier Manufacturing Engineer Graphics Microsystems Inc. Sunnyvale CA 408 745 7745 bcoll...@gmicolor.com
