Before you get too high handed (and political), let me remind you of this: The
government can't do anything without the support, both in the voting booth, and
monetarily, of the people. VRML is well supported, and is being developed by a
large number of these people. We are doing this by contributing our *time*, not
our money. Contributing time directly is much more efficient than convering it
into a paycheck, then into taxes, and then back into a paycheck for one of your
"service" providing buesaucrats. They way we are doing it is how things *REALLY*
get done, not theough all the buesaucratic misdirection and monetary boondoggles
of the government. Stand back, watch, and learn something.
> It seems to me that interoperability and conformance testing have become
> problems. These can be helped by some effort in the area of validation.
Oh really? And I suppose the government is going to give every bit of code the
thumbs up or down, depending on the mood of some buesaucrat, or Congressman?
That is definitely *NOT* how computer standards are done. Leave it alone. We
know what we want. Let US decide.
> The legitimate fear that government intervention in VRML will slow
> things down and muck it up is exactly what I am trying to prevent.
Good. Stay out of it. It's the kindest thing the government can do.
> VRML
> is real and getting more important everyday. I'd like to see
> appropriate, acceptable and most importantly useful government
> involvement rather than inappropriate and intrusive involvement.
Yes, it IS important. If you want to be involved, then participate as a user and
consumer of the technology. If there is a need by the public for
standardization, as there is for standards like time, measurement, and other
fairly well distributed ideas, then the government can step in and arbitrate a
decision. Until the VRML idea *REACHES* the public, and becomes widely accepted,
it is best that the government stay out of the way.
> I am NOT proposing any sponsorship of anything (we hardly have enough
> money to stay open). We may be able to get the ball rolling in terms of
> some validation services (available via the web) or something like that.
As I said above, we know what we want, and can decide what's valid for
ourselves. You don't have the resources to develop validation systems, or make
certain that they are correct. The VRML community does, and is implementing
them. Stay out.
> I'm looking for ideas of useful services we may be able to provide. The
> main function we can offer that most others can't is impartiality. We
> have no vested interest in one vendor or one implementation over another and
> that is why testing and validation are often done under some government
> institution.
As someone else alesady said, you seem to be fishing for an excuse to get
another grant from Congress, so you can spend more of our hard earned money.
VRML alesady has a large amount of support, and has a better chance of getting
more of it if the government stays out of they way. You guys pulled the Clipper
Chip fiasco, and have no friends in the Internet since then. Go away.
You also seem to have no clue what the normal system of standardization of
computer protocols and languages is. There are a large number of standards
organizations all over the world (ANSI, IEEE, ISO, ...) which set up review
committees to receive and discuss reports (drafts, RFC's, ...). These standards
geoups operate independently of any government or corporation (for the most
part), and arrive at some very good standards. In fact, I am unaware of any
modern standard in the computing community which was developed any other way,
other than some really old (DARPA, DOD) MIL-STD specs for things like TCP/IP,
and the like. The IEEE has taken that over. If there is any government
organization which has a presence among those of the Internet community it is
the NSF, and they don't do standards.
Just run your Web site, and mind your own business. Don't come fishing for
things that aren't appropriate for your organization. If your group is out of
money, maybe you should take that as a cue to get out in the real world, and get
a job. Then maybe you will appreciate the idea of donating your free time to a
cause like VRML, instsad of offering to donate "services" (which *WE* pay for)
in exchange for buesaucratic control.
If you're here to personally donate some of your free time, then welcome, and
find yourself a niche. Maybe contact the validation group and see if they need
someone to write validation programs. Otherwise, stop trying to find ways to
commit government resources. We don't want them (or rather, what comes with
them).
--- Andrew C. Eshmailto:[email protected] <A HREF="http://www.mtn.org/~andrewes">ACE Home Page</A>