kuhn@SWE.NCSL.NIST.GOV (Kuhn) (09/20/89)
A piece of rotten, irresponsible, and inept journalism on the front page of Government Computer News, Sept. 18, proclaims "NIST Delays X Window FIPS." Nothing could be further from the truth. NIST intends to move ahead on our original schedule to adopt X as a Federal Information Processing Standard. The article also states that the three week extension in the public comment period is "to help clear up what an agency official called confusion over the issue." This is incorrect. The extension was granted at the request of two organizations that needed more time to formulate their comments. It is quite common for the comment period to be extended. In fact, we always accept comments received in a reasonable amount of time after the expiration of the comment period. The adoption of a FIPS is not a balloting process as is done within ANSI or IEEE. Comments are requested to determine the opinions of agencies and companies w.r.t. the proposed FIPS, and also to solicit constructive criticism of the content and wording of the document. Many helpful comments we have received will be incorporated into the final document that we submit for Commerce Department approval. For example, many people suggested that X11 R4 should be considered. We concur. In fact it has always been our intent to adopt R4 as soon as it is ready. The process will continue on the original schedule. We expect to have a FIPS based on X in early 1990. Rick Kuhn NIST