xml-dev - Re: Who will maintain SAX?

[KenNorth <KenNorth@email.msn.com>]

> >That $5000 fee for joining the W3C is still a pretty powerful irritant,
> and The Open Group appears to start around $1500, with a $250 conference
> meeting fee.
>
> Oops.  It's worse than that.  Minimum for "Small Vendor or IT Buyer
> Organization" appears to be $12,500, with $2500 for an additional program
> group.  The $1500 is for an additional program group for "Government
Agency
> and Non-Profit Organizations", which starts at $7,500.
>
> http://www.opengroup.org/member/fees.htm

On the plus side:

1. The Open Group does certification and provides test suites:
http://www.opengroup.org/testing/

2. It's also been involved in creating open API specifications that advanced
to become ISO standards.

This has become an issue over in the XML/EDI world. Proponents of XML/EDI
are running into
resistance because U.S. government healthcare reform rules (HIPAA) mandate
the use of standards-based software for processing transactions such as
claims. The barrier for XML/EDI is that XML is not an ANSI or ISO standard
(such as X12 or SGML.)

So there are definite advantages to having an XML API become a standard.
(The Open Group helped advance SQL/CLI to become an ISO standard in 1995.)

Those are pluses, but the high membership fees are definitely a negative.