Will OASIS matter? (was OASIS individual memberships)

[David Megginson]

Simon St.Laurent writes:

 > It's not clear to me what benefits I'd get from becoming an OASIS
 > member.

It's hard to say what benefits might develop.  It is interesting to
note that the OASIS name has come up a couple of times in discussions
with my customers -- they're developing specs such as
industry-specific document types for interchange, and they are
thinking ahead to where the specs might live and be maintained after
the initial development and implementation, OASIS was the first place
they mentioned.

This doesn't mean that OASIS *is* going to become important, but it
does mean that there's a clear niche for it to move into if the OASIS
members are willing and able to take the plunge.  The W3C is *not*
about to endorse every industry-specific doctype, even if the vendors
do manage to submit them as Notes; but industries do want some kind of
vendor-independent endorsement, and OASIS could provide that if it
wanted to.

I don't know whether that potential justifies the cost of membership,
or if it will ever be realized, but it is certainly possible for OASIS 
to grow significantly in importance.


All the best,


David

-- 
David Megginson                 david at megginson.com
           http://www.megginson.com/

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