Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!caen!uflorida!novavax!rm1!bapat
From: bapat@rm1.UUCP (Subodh Bapat)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso
Subject: Re: High Cost of OSIng?
Message-ID: <988@rm1.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jan 91 00:41:10 GMT
References: <9101111905.1.UUL1.3#5653@malamud.com>
Organization: (I don't speak for) Racal-Milgo, Ft Lauderdale, FL
Lines: 38

In <9101111905.1.UUL1.3#5653@malamud.com> carl@malamud.com (Carl Malamud) writes:
%As you are all probably aware, ISO, CCITT, and ANSI all retain the 
%copyright on their standards.  The result is that they cost quite a 
%bit -- a recent  purchase of FTAM specs, for example, cost me $200.  
%There are two reasons advanced by the standards bodies for this policy:

%     1) They need to fund the standards process with document sales.
%     2) Keeping copyright prevents unauthorized duplication and thus
%        preserves the authenticity of the standards.

%This is in sharp contrast to TCP/IP where standards are publicly available.

%Does anyone consider this to be an issue?  Is the high cost of standards 
%impeding efforts to adopt those standards?  Do you know less about OSI 
%because you can't readily (cheaply) obtain standards specifications?

%Carl
%carl@malamud.com

I think this is perhaps THE major impediment in the proliferation of OSI.
Most people's knowledge of TCP/IP is direct, acquired from reading the RFC's;
whereas most people's knowledge of OSI is derivative, acquired from second-hand
sources, articles, books, etc. 

The other effect this has had is that it has engendered a class of middlemen -
people who make it their business to digest and explain the standards to
their clients, because clients find it too expensive to obtain OSI standards
for themselves. While these people - such as Omnicom and PSC - are doing an
excellent job overall, in the long run the OSI community would be better
served if standards were directly and freely available. Today, a 
budget-conscious startup would rather implement a TCP/IP product than an
OSI product because the high cost of OSI specifications acts as a barrier
to market entry. (On second thoughts, this may be by design, if the big
boys in the OSI community don't want upstart startups carving up the low 
end of the market).
-- 
Subodh Bapat              bapat@rm1.uu.net     OR           ...uunet!rm1!bapat
MS E-204, PO Box 407044,  Racal-Milgo, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33340  (305) 846-6068