> Where on the net are the ARRL CNC proceedings available? I would
> like to know the URL, please.
This _may_ be a reference to the "networking protocol specifications should
be free" debate. It occurs on the IETF mail list every few years.
Hopefully, the following terse summary of the debate will both
provide a [possible] context for the question and avoid a replay of the
whole debate.
The debate starts out:
"IP won the protocol wars over the OSI protocols" or
"The IETF way is superior to the ITU/ANSI/... way" or
"We (the IETF) are simply superior"
because
"We make our protocol specifications free while you have to
pay money for ITU/ANSI/... standards"
It usually continues:
"The IP protocols were more successful, in part, because the
protocol specifications were free, which allowed grad students
and others without money or research budgets to experiment with
the protocols" and
"Not only are the protocols specifications free, but good
implementations were freely available."
Given enough time, the debate degenerates to:
"It is morally repugnant to charge money for protocol standards" or
"Software should be free!"
"Intellectual property is a capitalist conspiracy"
It should be noted that the ITU, ANSI, the IEEE and others use the sale
of specifications to help fund the rest of the organization, including
standardization activities.
About my only comment on this debate is that most of the participants
have spent substantial amounts of their own and other people's money on
computers, books, and travel to conferences, etc.
Note, however, that the "protocol specifications should be free" debate
is different than the "protocols ought to have publicly available
specifications" or "protocol standardization processes should be open"
debates.
I just thought you might want to know, and even if you didn't,
-tjs
