George:
It's OK to tell them I sent it. They must be pretty tired of hearing
me talk about this by now, anyway.
The thing is, our military services did not have a hidden agenda.
They needed to produce clear, enforceable standards for a very important
reason: to keep american kids from getting killed.
Ive been on both sides, and I have seen how things get done. In the
government, there is usually a huge committee. Most of the participants dont
contribute much. Then there are one or two real experts who have the time
and the facilities to develop something that is pretty good. Then everybody
shares the credit (or the blame.)
Ive seen how some industrial standards are developed, and I have to
say that Im pretty disappointed. The government is actually good at certain
things: rule-making is one of them.
When you think about it, our federal government & military have done
some pretty good things: besides protecting our country, they built the
panama canal which was one of the wonders of the world at the time, found a
cure for malaria (Walter Reed) developed most of the tools now used in deep
sea exploration and - oh yes - they put a man on the moon.
They waste huge amounts of money, but a lot of that is due to the
politicians that WE ELECT!
;)
Lou
At 11:12 AM 10/1/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>
>See a response received below. Author's name deleted as I did not
>ask if I could post the response.
>
>My comment: Who ever thought that a Federal Government, especially
>the U.S. military, would be years ahead of private industry in its
>distribution and availability of standards?
>
>George Alspaugh
>
>---------------------- Forwarded by George Alspaugh/Lex/Lexmark on 10/01/99
>11:05 AM ---------------------------
>
>George:
>
>That world exists. It's called the United States' Military Standards. They
>are free. they are not copyrighted, so you can copy and distribute them.
>They are available over the internet. They were meant to be used, not to
>promote some hidden agenda.
>
>Best of all, they are clear, concise, and written in REAL ENGLISH, not some
>incomprehensible third-rate translation.
>
>check out:
>
>http://www.dodssp.daps.mil/
>
>Also the FCC rules are not copyrighted etc.
>
>We may complain about our government, but you gotta love them once you see how
>screwed up other countries are.
>
>
> At 10:18 AM 9/30/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>>
>>Most of the world entered the information some decades ago. The
>>greatest leap forward has been the advent of the internet. I need not
>>elaborate on how quickly one can get information on almost any topic at
>>their workstation via the internet.
>>
>>Sadly, the world of standards is stuck in the 1950's. Months or years
>>go by to get consensus on new versions. Those who need them most must
>>place "orders" for precious hard copies of new standards at exhorbitant
>>prices.
>>
>>I can see why commercial books will always cost something, as they represent
>>creative intellectual property that are made available by the the author/
>>publisher for profit. However, why would international standards bodies,
>>which are not for profit, make it so difficult and expensive to acquire
>>documents that make products safer for everyone?
>>
>>Imagine a world where......
>>
>>- Every user of standards had a PC workstation
>>- There was a world-wide internet to distribute information
>>- International standards bodies maintained a website of standards
>>- All standards contained hyper-links to related standards
>>- Subscription to access these standards was free
>>- Or, each subscriber (manufacturer) paid a modest fee per year for access
>>
>>
>>Well, we are part way there......
>>
>>
>>George Alspaugh
>>Lexmark International Inc.
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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