Microsoft's responce to XML.com article

[David Brownell]

Bill dehOra wrote:
> 
> :  Not only - I'm talking about reps from paying members; it's
> :  well-known that even if someone is doing a titanic amount of work
> :  editing a spec, when they have an in-house product-release crunch,
> :  well, they're just not
> :  going to be doing any editing for a while. 

Which is why a lot of engineers who prefer to work on products
choose to avoid standards work ... except to the extent that it
affects product delivery!


> :	 That is unless they're a
> :  "standards drone" a well-known species of engineer who isn't trusted
> :  to do any real work but is dispatched to standards committees, found
> :  in some but not all large technology vendors.
> 
> Are you saying that writing standards isn't real work?

I can't speak for Tim, but it's certainly true that there
are engineers who prefer the standards style work more than
product delivery and its set of hassles.  To be sure, some
of them are ex-engineers, no longer writing code but able
to apply the same analytical skills (and political ones too!)
to corporate strategy in that rather different context.

Re trust ... the best engineers are trusted, period, and
it's up to them to decide which style work they prefer!

- Dave

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