Paul Robinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > ... Have you noticed that nobody from any company has > piped up in this thread to say "oooh, no, that would be a bad > idea!".
I wouldn't have used just those words, perhaps, but just so there is no misunderstanding: Oooh, no, that would be a bad idea! I have done quite a bit of standards work both in the IETF and in some of the kinds of membership-based consortia that you cite, and the IETF funding and operational models are much better, specifically because they avoid people spending time on non-technical "we paid xxx to be here and you paid xxx/5, so you don't count" and similar nonsense. That does happen, and in the context of memberships costing 10s of thousands of dollars or more there is every reason why it _should_ happen. > I can > assure you that for large multi-nationals the difference between paying $500 > for a delegate and $5000 is a drop in the proverbial ocean, especially when > it comes to standards tracking. Those companies who are whining about > economic downturn are unlikely to send anybody even at $500/head. Those that > value the IETF meetings will see a raised price as being an investment > regardless of price. I work for a medium sized multi-national, and got here because my tiny startup was absorbed into it, and your assertion is just plain wrong. While it may seem to be true that in the grand scheme of things there is little difference between $500 and $5000, it all comes down to some individual manager having to pay for it out of some specific budget (as it should). > In addition, I still find it amazing that people are justifying costs due to > the number of breakfasts and cookies being served. The word 'ludicrous' is > overused on this list, but I think I've found a situation it applies to - > please, ask yourself whether the cookies are really needed. :-) Actually, I think the cookies and coffee are probably a major net productivity gain for the group, because they make it possible for people to congregate locally between meetings rather than scatter to find their fixes. I think you make some good points regarding the ability of independent developers to find funding. So good that I'm going to make a point to watch for cases in which it might be in my companies interest to sponsor such people, and suggest that others might do likewise (this may already be happening - I don't know). -- Scott Lawrence GlobespanVirata Embedded UPnP & Web Technology [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.emweb.com/
