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stds-802-16: new IEEE 802 standards distribution program



I wanted to bring you news of an important new program that will soon 
make IEEE 802 standards FREE for downloading starting six months 
after their publication date. The program was approved at the 802 
ExCom meeting of March 15. The minutes aren't out yet, so I asked the 
Secretary for a draft excerpt so I could report accurately.

The excerpt shows that this plan was presented:

>Launch a 3 year pilot program that provides for the public 
>availability of individual IEEE 802 standards in PDF format via the 
>IEEE-SA web site effective 15 May 2001.
>-	IEEE 802 contribution of $75 per person per plenary meeting 
>since July 2000
>-	Individual IEEE 802 PDFs available 6 months after publication
>-	IEEE-SA socialize corporate solicitation
>-	Program labeled as "Underwritten by Industry"
>-	Program to be reviewed yearly for viability
>-	IEEE 802 chair provide a plenary report with 3 year workload 
>projections

and this motion was passed:

>Motion: Approve the above plan and authorize Treasurer to "cut a 
>check" within two weeks after each plenary meeting, including 
>$215,100 within two weeks after this meeting to cover the obligation 
>since July 2000.

I voted in favor of the motion. Although I didn't like all of the 
details, they had been negotiated with the IEEE Standards Department, 
which will be losing sales revenue and has therefore been cautious on 
this issue. I decided it was in our best interests. I had in mind a 
straw poll taken at our Session #6 on this issue. The minutes read: 
"At the request of 802, Roger conducted a survey on 802 document 
distribution. 802 is interested in making 802 documents freely 
available on the Web. Roger asked how many people would support using 
$100 from each person's registration fee at each LMSC Plenary Session 
to support this endeavor. 49 said yes and 0 no."

At the same meeting, the ExCom approved a rules change (one I 
proposed last November) to allow such use of funds. The specific 
change is:

>Add Item 4 following "The purpose of having a LMSC treasury is to:" 
>(within "Procedure 1: USE OF LMSC FUNDS")
>4. To support the publication and dissemination of standards.

I think that this is a very positive turn that is going to greatly 
enhance the impact of IEEE 802 standards. I'd like to thank Jim Carlo 
and Howard Frazier for taking the lead in getting this going.

Roger