In defense of the X3J11 committee

[William Davidsen]

In article <10474 at smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn at brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes:
| In article <18308 at mimsy.UUCP> chris at mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
| > [stuff about how hard it was to contribute to X3J11]
| 
| All I can say about that is, I didn't find it hard to hear about the
| standardization effort from the start, obtain drafts from the Redactor,
| and contribute something to the effort even before my organization
| decided to officially sponsor my participation.  Of course it took
| time and a modest amount of other resources ($175 to $200 annual fee,
| plus travel expenses) to participate fully, so if one really didn't
| care enough about C standardization to make this investment worthwhile
| then I suppose one would not have been able to exert as much influence
| as would otherwise be the case.  That seems fair to me.  

  I think you are understating that cost. I was a member from the first
meeting in Washington forward for just over two years. The cost for
regular and committee meetings was about 6 weeks time the first year,
and 9 the second. That's why I wasn't a member the third year. None of
this reflects the hours put in reading stuff, preparing proposals, etc.

  I'm not saying that the cost is out of line for a large company, but
the way you say it makes it sound like pin money. I would have paid my
own transportation and living if someone could have paid my $alary.

  BTW: it seems that several people who left the committee about that
time never showed up on the list of members later.
	bill davidsen		(davidsen at crdos1.crd.GE.COM)
  {uunet | philabs}!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me