RE: [802.3ae] Clarification on Clause 45
Devendra,
The purpose of the standards process is to produce useful interoperable
standards in a reasonable time frame.
Many of us (myself included) are perfectionists, but to serve its purpose,
standards development must use a process that converges.
Every time we make the tiniest technical change, the draft must be
recirculated. There is always the chance that people object to the change on
the recirculation and it has to be changed again. Changes to make the
standard "better" could go on for years. There are things I spot in the
existing 802.3 where a bit could have been worded better or where I think a
change would be better (and IEEE 802.3 is much better on clarity and
consistency than many other standards). It works, it interoperates, it
fulfills the needs of the world for a Local Area Network very well. Many of
these tweaks toward perfection would have absolutely no effect on what
Ethernet networks deliver to their users.
We get a process that converges by having a rule. You get to vote on
everything once at Working Group ballot and once at Sponsor ballot. If we
make a technical change as a result of ballot comments, we recirculate it
and you get to vote on that changed text. (Because we are concerned that
there is a risk that a change that looks editorial may really be technical,
we have been recirculating all changes.)
If someone discovered a fatal flaw, then we need to deal with that even if
it should have been pointed out earlier.
Other than that, the only comments we should be dealing with are those on
the changes in p802.3ae_P802_3ae_D4p3.pdf or the unresolved disapprove
comments.
The changes you suggest, particularly the second one would be technical not
editorial. The second one is on an aspect of the draft that has been
unchanged since before sponsor ballot started and no comments were raised on
it.
Sincerely,
Pat
-----Original Message-----
From: Devendra Tripathi [mailto:tripathi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 6:04 PM
To: pat_thaler@xxxxxxxxxxx; David_Law@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: stds-802-3-hssg@xxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [802.3ae] Clarification on Clause 45
Pat,
Please also go through two editorial issues which I pointed out today. I
know that these comments are late, but at least we can discuss them. If it
makes the standard better, some of it may be still worth it.
Regards,
Devendra Tripathi
CoVisible Solutions, Inc
90 Great Oaks Blvd #206
San Jose, Ca 95119
Tel: (408)226-6800,
Fax: (408)226-6862