UPD Mail Archive: UPD> corporate support for UPD

UPD> corporate support for UPD

David_Kellerman@nls.com
Tue, 05 May 1998 11:42:43 PST

The UPD effort, which was beginning to look like a non-starter,
seems to have life in it (Sandra Matts of HP volunteering as chair,
meeting scheduled in Washington, DC). But the rocky start leaves me
concerned about the level of corporate support -- I'd like to see a
"critical mass" before good people start investing valuable time.

In particular, I'm thinking of Adobe and Microsoft, key players with
experience and technology that relates to UPD. (I hate repeating
other people's mistakes.) So far, I've seen little participation
from Adobe. Microsoft (Paul Moore) has expressed strong interest in
using a UPD standard, but their participation has also been sporadic
(they've so far been unable to make available specifications for
their printer description file format, for instance). I'm not
criticising either company -- the point is that either they, or
other experienced major players, need to commit significant
resources to make UPD successful.

Not to be too pointy-headed, but I'm looking for a business plan --
who's going to do what things to produce what products (standards),
and what value will those products have to what customers. Are we
ready to tackle that task in Washington DC?

:: David Kellerman Northlake Software 503-228-3383
:: david_kellerman@nls.com Portland, Oregon fax 503-228-5662