std-unix@ut-sally.UUCP (Moderator, John Quarterman) (10/07/86)
[ This is a first for this newsgroup: an anonymous posting. The submittor asked to be signed "participant in 1003 effort." -mod ] IEEE is one of the lowest cost sources of standards; both CBEMA(X3) [ who produce the X3J11 C Standard documents -mod ] and ISO tend to charge more for similar documents. Part of this is due to the fact that IEEE uses commercial distribution channels, and thus can print higher volumes than if they were the only source. For those of us who are putting in hundreds of hours of time (and our companies who pay for that) substantial travel costs for meetings, and even the per hour costs of sorting through mod.std.unix, [ Amen -mod ] $20 is a drop in the bucket. Now for a more challenging thought ... I'm not sure there is much use in feedback from persons who cannot afford the $20! Clearly they are not professionally involved in this area or they would have a cause or justification for the expense. Any company in the computer industry or related fields can afford $20 to find out what the federal government is proposing be made a Federal Purchasing Specification, if not just to keep employees current. End user sites would have the same interest in knowing what is "coming down", so they can respond intelligently to the the multitude of products coming out. I can see some limit on the number of copies that a University might be willing to buy, but each one has a book store, and if there are enough UNIX users on campus that store can buy the book at a discount (or a user group could put in a bulk order). For a class of interested professionals, the $20 is a minimal investment in keeping up with technology. So I will stand on my comment. For those who consider this process to be of significant interest, they can join the working group or corresponding group. Working group members attend meetings, and that is a moderate expense. Correspondents are expected to provide written feedback, and specific proposed wordings that would improve the document. These groups both get all of the mailings, drafts, etc. (and the glory of having their names printed in the front of the book). With the fairly tight budget constraints of the IEEE, if the correspondent group gets too big we may need to charge them for the costs of distribution of materials (far more than the $20) (so far that has not happened). Finally, we hope to get the next draft on line in some form so persons can "see" what is happening, and comment on current status information. But I suspect that transfering that in bulk over UUCP, and printing it locally is not a way to save $20 (phone, computer, paper, manpower expenses will exceed $20 in most modern countries). Volume-Number: Volume 7, Number 29