re: 802.11n: Come TogetherThis latest split and come back story, coupled with the long running, never ending fights in 802.20 and the silliness in 802.15 over UWB makes me wonder if something is not fundamentally wrong with IEEE 802 decision making processes.
Remember that right now the IEEE 802 works by voting (they vote for everything...) with individuals (not companies) holding voting rights after they have personally attended 3 meetings. This means that some big player (sometimes with very bad ideas) can either ram through a solution into a committee or block something by simply sending their entire R&D staff to three meetings.
Isn't it time the IEEE 802 woke up and realised that individuals come from companies and so change the voting to one-per-company? This would mean that no-one can dominate and so the real experts would be encouraged to work by consensus instead of this current business of "I have more bored non-experts in this meeting than you have and so I win" process.
re: 802.11n: Come TogetherSeems like an intractable problem.
A tactic that seems to be used quite a lot GÇ£to speed things upGÇ¥ is to create some kind of industry Forum or Alliance (in which a few big vendors hold sway), then develop the specs you want, and then import the work into an official standards organization for fast-track approval.
Is there anything really wrong with doing it this way?
(Of course, there must be, or we wouldnGÇÖt have Standards Development Organizations).
re: 802.11n: Come TogetherIt does look like the only way to get results in IEEE 802 is to go through an industry Forum. The IEEE 802 SA is then only a tool for the industry forum to get an official approval of their standard.
Why aren't the rules in the IEEE 802 modified? Maybe companies simply prefer to work through an industry Forum. Remember that the IEEE 802 officials are also individuals working for corporations...
re: 802.11n: Come TogetherAs a parallel article in Unstung notes the other big IEEE 802 fight on UWB has now ending in simple defeat (see http://www.unstrung.com/docume...
If 802 is simply a rubber stamping body then it serves no real purpose.
Looks like the future will be in industrial fora or maybe we will see the return to power of the classic standards bodies like ETSI, ATIS, etc. that know how to vote and then stick to majority decisions.
Just Curious
DJ