From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,fef2a40177b882e8 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1995-02-07 09:59:05 PST Path: nntp.gmd.de!newsserver.jvnc.net!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!paladin.american.edu!auvm!PSAVAX.PWFL.COM!CONDIC Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Message-ID: Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 12:59:05 EST Sender: Ada programming language From: CONDIC@PSAVAX.PWFL.COM Subject: Re: 2167A, 498, commercial and mil standards... Date: 1995-02-07T12:59:05-05:00 List-Id: From: Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93 Subject: Re: 2167A, 498, commercial and mil standards... Original_To: PROFS%"SMTP@PWAGPDB" Original_cc: CONDIC Michael Feldman Writes: > >OK - let's bring it closer to home and talk about ANSI, IEEE, and ISO, >which make lots of money to support their standards programs by >copyrighting and selling these. A copy of Fortran 90 (the standard, not >a compiler) is around $200. The Ada 95 standard is still available >electronically and (unless I mis-read the traffic on this subject) >it took some negotiation to keep it there. Thinking of the Ada 95 >standard as a microcosmic view of the whole free-electronic >vs. expensive-paper situation will help to crystallize it in your minds. > Well how's about this for a potential answer to the problem: Things like MIL-STD-2167a, MIL-STD-1750b, MIL-STD-498, etc., ad nauseum, were all developed at public expense and in general are available from some government agency at a nominal charge which basically covers printing & shipping costs. (Reasonable enough.) They also (so far as I know) do not have any copyright restrictions associated with them. Since this stuff is essentially "public domain" it ought to be available from an FTP site where those of us who have a need to glom onto this sort of thing can easily get it. (Sort of like 'Project Gutenberg') In general, I have no problem with someone making an honest buck by publishing something useful or adding value and charging for it. (Could you imagine having an "Illuminated Manuscript" of MIL-STD-1815a as a sort of 'collectors edition'?) I will take exception to someone trying to lock up and charge for something that was developed at public expense. I agree with you on the side-bar issue of West and Mead. Laws are written at the expense (great expense?) of the public and should, in the general interest, be distributed as widely and inexpensively as possible. If someone goes to the trouble of publishing the law in a fancy, leather bound edition, they've added value and have a right to charge for the service. But to get a monopoly on the market by virtue of the page numbers is really rather anti-free-market, don't you think? Monopolies aren't generally good for the American Free Enterprise system and hence is bad for business. Pax, Marin Marin David Condic, Senior Computer Engineer ATT: 407.796.8997 M/S 731-93 Technet: 796.8997 Pratt & Whitney, GESP Internet: CONDICMA@PWFL.COM P.O. Box 109600 Internet: MDCONDIC@AOL.COM West Palm Beach, FL 33410-9600 =============================================================================== "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957. ===============================================================================