xml-dev - Re: XML-DEVIL Proposal - was Open Standards Processes

[Jon.Bosak@eng.Sun.COM (Jon Bosak)]

[Don Park:]

| I am all for it if it is acceptable to W3C.  We could call it XML-DEVIL
| (XML-DEV Independent Logheads) which could be either a non-profit
| corporation or an association.  I am sure we can put our piggy banks
| together and come up with the necessary fee.
| 
| What do you say, XML-Devils?;-)

Cute idea, but it won't accomplish what you want.  You would have to
incorporate and set up legal employment contracts with all your
"employees", and then all the employees of the corporation would be
legally bound to respect the confidentiality of the W3C work in
progress just like the employees of the current W3C members are.  So
there goes your free and open public discussion.  And you could say
goodbye to the right to speculate in newsgroups or public lists like
xml-dev.

Such a group might be useful for lobbying purposes, since it would
give its members a voice on the W3C Advisory Council.  But the AC is
exactly what its name says -- advisory.  In the W3C, the Director is
ultimately responsible for all decisions made by the consortium,
regardless of the input of its member organizations.  And for the
right to be one of over 200 organizations giving the Director advice,
you would have to come up with the W3C money, manage the corporation
as a corporation, set up and maintain a mailing list just like xml-dev
(only restricted), and monitor the activities of each and every one of
the "employees" to make sure that they followed W3C confidentiality
guidelines.  I can fairly well guarantee that anyone who took this on
would never have time to write another line of code.

I'm going to bet that the majority of people interested enough to
pursue this idea are planning to make and sell XML tools.  In other
words, planning to compete with each other.  If that's the case, what
you really want is either to join the W3C on an individual basis (I
haven't checked lately, but last I heard this was a minimum of $5000
up front), or join OASIS and in effect form your own consortium.

Jon



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