Debian joning OASIS?

[Mark Johnson <mrj@debian.org>]

Hi All,

I have a proposal I believe would benefit the Debian project as a
whole, as well as providing important opportunities for ALL debian
developers.

The Quick Summary:

  - Cost
         I'll pay $250 of the $1000 annual OASIS membership fee if
         someone else can come up with the remaining $750. (One
         possibility being that 3 [or more] other developers cover the
         rest, but then see the Caveat below.)

  - Benefits
         If Debian is an OASIS member organization, _ANY_ debian
         developer can join an OASIS technical committee, or even
         initiate the development of an XML standard under the
         auspices of OASIS.

An Aside - About OASIS:

  From the OASIS site: <http://www.oasis-open.org/>

  OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured
  Information Standards is a non-profit, international consortium that
  creates interoperable industry specifications based on public
  standards such as XML and SGML, as well as others that are related
  to structured information processing.

  Familiar OASIS standards/specs are 
	- DocBook, 
	- the SGML catalog specification, and 
	- the newer XML Ctalog specification. 

The Long Version:

  Last week I was about to purchase an individual OASIS
  <http://www.oasis-open.org/> membership for $250 in order to join
  the DocBook Technical Committee, but first decided to find out how
  to get a membership for Debian.

  The bottom line is that OASIS offers a $1000 US "Special
  Contributor" membership specifically for non-profit
  entities. ALthough this category is not listed on the OASIS
  Membership Categories page, it provides all the same benefits as a
  "Contributor" membership.

  Since I'll join OASIS either way, I figured it'd make more sense for
  me to put my $250 toward an organization membership for Debian,
  rather than simply spending the money on an individual membership
  for myself.

  Also, individual members do NOT enjoy the full priveleges as do
  those whose membership is through an organization. Specifically,
  though they can participate in the specification development
  process, they don't have voting rights.

  Caveat: if we actually go through with this I believe people like
          myself should not be expected to contribute to the
          membership renewal for a period of an as-yet-undetermined
          number of years.

Any takers? I'm ready to join today...

Cheers,
Mark

_____________________________________
Mark Johnson        <mark@duke.edu>
Debian SGML         <mrj@debian.org>
Home Page:          <http://dulug.duke.edu/~mark/>
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