Question for net.views column in UNIX Today!

[Aron Burns]

In article <1991Mar01.185214.904 at utoday.com> you write:
>Will user organizations ever be effective in steering open systems?
>
>
>						Question #1
>------------------------------------------------------------------------

If one includes users of some influence and dedication in the user
organization, the answer is yes.  

The archetypal user group - a group of disciples gathering in the
unused areas of a town hall or university - are viewed by 
manufacturers as public relations areas, not as strategic research 
areas.

Moreover, such groups do not have the discipline or clarity of 
purpose to have an ongoing commitment to a large issue such
as the direction of open systems.  These issues can be discussed in
an informal setting with ease and abandon; actually commiting ideas
to paper in a way that others can understand and critique them
is an enourmous amount of work.

The strategy adopted by UniForum Canada of encouraging corporate membership
seems to be the best way to be effective in steering open
systems (these observations are based on deduction and my experience chairing 
a group in a large organization - I have never actually
attended a UniForum meeting).  As the corporate members feel some ownership in 
the process and are simultaneously exposed the the requirements of 
a considerable end user community, there may be enough energy to affect
the momentum of decisions made by the corporate members.

As well, corporate membership can bring the resources required to
address, on a long-term basis, issues surrounding open systems.
While individuals may be able to sustain the interest (and the labour) 
needed to formalize an opinion regarding the direction of open
systems, a corporate member with the support of his/her organization
stands a better chance.

This partnership of users in the form of corporations, and users in the
form of technology end-users, is a way for
user groups to effectively steer open systems.



-- 
Aaron Burns      	     "Nothing I say on the net is binding
aronb at gkcl.ists.ca         to our corporation"
Toronto, Ontario         "Life is a forge, and the purest metal
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