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From: klee@wsl.dec.com (Ken Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso
Subject: Re: ISO Whining
Message-ID: <1991Jan28.140012@wsl.dec.com>
Date: 28 Jan 91 22:00:12 GMT
References: <645@dtg.nsc.com> <4801@acorn.co.uk>
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Reply-To: klee@wsl.dec.com
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Organization: DEC Western Software Laboratory
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While I agree with many of the postings here that free access to ISO
standards would be nice, you have to remember that developing and
administering standards is a very expensive proposition.  Most of the
costs are born by the volunteer technical experts who write the
standards, but there are many other expenses, including the costs
associated with open public reviews, administrative overhead, etc.
ISO, ANSI, and other standards groups generally receive no government
funding, so must rely on some sort of fund raising.

Note that standards bodies are not the only people who sell documents.
Many technical societies raise a large portion of their budget by
selling conference proceedings and journals that were written by
volunteer technical experts.  Many technical professionals will claim
that this information is just as critical to their work as are standards
documents.

-- 
Ken Lee
DEC Western Software Laboratory, Palo Alto, Calif.
Internet: klee@wsl.dec.com
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