From bill@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com Thu Mar 19 16:23:42 1992
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Date: Thu, 19 Mar 92 10:23:16 -0500
From: bill@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com (Bill Leonard)
Message-Id: <9203191523.AA10753@amber.ssd.csd.harris.com>
To: walt@netcom.com
Cc: SC22WG5@dkuug.dk
In-Reply-To: Walt Brainerd's message of Wed, 18 Mar 92 14:28:48 PST <9203182228.AA24598@netcom.netcom.com>
Subject: (SC22WG5.72) Market surveys
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> Date: Wed, 18 Mar 92 14:28:48 PST
> From: walt@netcom.com (Walt Brainerd)

> But these folks have their own "customers", the users of the programs,
> from purchasers of a mathematical library from IMSL or NAG or Magus to
> the purchaser of an airline ticket who gets his plane designed by a
> Fortran program (or whose medical equipment is controlled by a Fortran
> program when the plane designer encounters a bug).  I would bet that most
> of these folks would come down hard on the side of reliability and
> maintainability over performance...

I'll take that bet, because I think those people would think twice about
favoring reliability if they knew the cost.  Consider the fact that the
great majority of automobile owners didn't rush out to buy a new car with
an air bag the moment they became available.  Also note that automobiles
that purport to put a great emphasis on safety (such as Volvo) don't hold
the great majority of the market.

I think maintainability and reliability ARE important, and so do a lot
of people, but there is a cost involved that must be weighed against
the benefits.

> This is one more way to say that X3J3 is not a "representative democracy"
> in the sense of each person/dollar/line-of-code having the same amount
> of representation (Andrew, Loren, Keith,  and I have less of a vote in
> the US Senate than people from any other state, but I sill would call
> it a representative democracy), but in the sense that the members of
> the committee must try to represent some class (not all the same as
> Richard points out) and do their best to understand the needs of
> the rest.

Well, I guess the world is coming to an end, because now Walt and I agree
on something! :-) (At least, it appears that way.)  Walt has simply
rephrased what I said before: X3J3 needs to realize it is NOT
representative, and therefore try harder to get as many views as possible
and take those views into account.

> It is unfortunate that representatives of vendors are some times put in
> the position of representing only the economic well being of their own
> company, however much that will harm others.  And, of course,
> representatives of users could be put in the same position.

If the consumers were as concerned about reliability as you say, then it
would be to the vendors' ADVANTAGE to emphasize reliability.  If their
economic well-being is threatened by doing so, though, that tells me their
customers value other things besides reliability.

Bill Leonard
Harris Computer Systems Division
2101 W. Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL  33309
bill@ssd.csd.harris.com
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