Standards (was Re: psql variables fixed (?))

Don Baccus <dhogaza(at)pacifier(dot)com> writes:
> Which begs the question ... does Postgres.org have representation
> on the standards commitees?

Not that I've heard about --- for that matter, is there any active
SQL standards committee?

> Whether or not there's money available for development, I should
> think minimal funding for participation in the standards committee
> (i.e. travel and per-diem, maybe not a salary) wouldn't be hard to
> scare up...

While I don't know anything about the SQL standards situation, I do know
how this game is played from past work with JPEG. The only effective
participants on the international standards committees are people who
work for corporate research labs of corporations with very deep pockets.
(Or, occasionally, professors with tenure at universities having very
deep pockets.)

JPEG, for example, used to have a regular schedule of three meetings
a year: one in the Americas, one in Europe, one in the Far East. Your
travel budget didn't stretch that far? Tough luck; you were a bystander
not a player. Not to mention that the real players would organize/host
a local meeting every so often --- better be able to budget a couple of
full-time secretaries to handle the details if you want to do that.

I don't think PostgreSQL, Inc is playing in that league, or has any
prospect of doing so soon. Nor would I want to be our representative
if we could do it. The Net has changed the rules about running
large-scale collaborations, but AFAICT the ISO hasn't heard yet.

regards, tom "professional bystander" lane
organizer, Independent JPEG Group