discuss: Re: Debian joining OASIS?
Subject:
Re: Debian joining OASIS?
From:
Martin WHEELER ####@####.####
Date:
11 Mar 2002 20:16:03 -0000
Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0203111941560.23826-100000@caxton.startext.demon.co.uk>
On Mon, 11 Mar 2002, Mark Johnson wrote:
> On Monday, March 11, Vince Mulhollon wrote:
> >
> > Could you explain what OASIS provides at a true cost of more than $1000 per
> > member?
...
> OASIS is a standards organization, mainly. Mostly they create
> specifications having something to do with XML, like DocBook.
...
> So, how would membership benefit Debian?
...
> $1000 buys
> _every_ debian developer membership in OASIS. That translates to a
> little over $1/developer, which is not IMHO unreasonable.
I see a possible/probable snag here.
Debian developer status is restricted to hairy programmer types.
(Been there; been given the treatment; quickly lost all interest. My
main interests lie in documentation issues.)
Hairy programmer types are usually not hairy SGML types.
(Or at least, the SGML/XML types move in different communities and have
more interest in documentation issues than in the niceties of package
programming.)
Thus the very people in the Debian community who would probably want
to provide input to OASIS are most likely the very ones most likely to
be excluded.
> Ya know, I honestly thought there would be at least three other
> developers who would want (and could afford) to join, and who would be
> willing to throw their fees in for the benefit of the whole
> project. But then I don't get out much, either:-)
Get my point? You're looking among the wrong community.
Anyone care to comment? (Personally, I'm in favour of the idea. But
I'm not a developer -- pity there isn't such a thing as a 'documentation
developer'.)
msw
--
Martin Wheeler ####@####.#### gpg:1024D/01269BEB the.earth.li
