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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!utah-cs!utah-gr!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Newsgroups: net.news.group,net.internat
Subject: Re: I hate to say I told you so...
Message-ID: <1034@mmintl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-Jan-86 06:43:50 EST
Article-I.D.: mmintl.1034
Posted: Tue Jan 14 06:43:50 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jan-86 06:20:11 EST
References: <2390@gatech.CSNET>
Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT
Lines: 29
Keywords: net.internat
Xref: watmath net.news.group:4942 net.internat:140
Summary: The net can't do the job


[Not food]

While the idea of international standardization is a very good one, I am
afraid it is very naive to expect a newsgroup by itself to accomplish
anything.  What is needed is an international committee, containing
representatives from the principle computer companies in the world.  (If
UNIX(tm) is to be the basis for such an effort, it may suffice to get
those companies which play a major role in UNIX; but this must include
a sufficient variety of companies from non-English-speaking countries.)

This should be preceded by someone with the requisate technical skills and
stature putting together a design proposal, which the committee can use as
a starting point.  Committees are good at elaborating and correcting
designs, but terrible at creating them.

A newsgroup would be quite useful as an adjunct to such a committee,
providing feedback from a larger group of potential users.

Another possible approach would be for some company to go ahead and produce
such a system, hoping it will be salable when finished.  This is more
likely to work for a large, prestigious firm than for a small startup.
In this case, the newsgroup would have nothing to do until a preliminary
version of the system was available.

P.S. I found what there was on net.internat to be quite valuable.  But the
need now is for someone to do something, not for discussion.

Frank Adams                           ihpn4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Multimate International    52 Oakland Ave North    E. Hartford, CT 06108