Paul Robinson wrote: > > On Mar 18, Brian E Carpenter <brian@hursley.ibm.com> wrote: > > > just as sensitive to meeting costs as small companies or individuals. The whole > > idea of tiered prices is based on a massive misunderstanding of the way companies > > manage expenses. > > I can assure you it isn't. Have you noticed that nobody from any company has > piped up in this thread to say "oooh, no, that would be a bad idea!". I can > assure you that for large multi-nationals the difference between paying $500 > for a delegate and $5000 is a drop in the proverbial ocean, especially when > it comes to standards tracking. I work for a large company who is accounting with a much tighter belt than we were a few years ago, and I can assure you that jacking up corporate prices would directly affect our attendance, just like it would many other big companies. Despite what you think, most big corporations don't have bags of money in the budget to throw around at will. However, that's not why I object to your idea. I object to any "tax the hell out of the rich for our benefit" plan in any system. Your underlying message is that a) corporations "owe" these organizations, so they should be willing to foot the bill for them, and b) you really would like it just fine if people from these corporations didn't show their faces at the meetings at all. Would you prefer it if corporations felt unwanted and started working either independently or in groups to create standards outside of the IETF, and completely ignored the opinions of everyone in it? Why not require income reports from all attendees, and start charging people proportionally to their yearly income? Would that be fair? The wealthier attendees should be willing to foot more of the bill because they can afford it? One of the nice things about the IETF is that it's theoretically based on the contributions of individuals, and designed so that individuals have the power to stop suggestions that are being "railroaded" through the process. If you feel that corporations are having undue or unfair influence over the workings of the IETF, then a discussion should be started about changing the procedures and protocols regulating the operating of the IETF to correct the balance. If you feel that you are owed free meeting attendence by a person or corporation who simply has a larger net worth than you, then we disagree on basic principles. -- Tobin Coziahr 650-786-7118 (x87118) Solaris Networking tobin.coziahr@sun.com Sun Microsystems