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Re: Secure HTTP mailing list

At  3:00 PM 11/14/94 -0800, Mark Allyn 865-5364 wrote:
>Commercenet is just like anyone else in this business;
>they use publicly available standards to write/create
>their own implementation. It's the same with TCP/IP. Do
>you see Sun releasing the source code for their TCP/IP
>stack implementation on SunOs? Isn't Commercenet like
>any other private vendor? Please forgive me if I sound
>too unreasonable. It's the end of the day and I am looking
>forward to a 15 mile bicycle ride in the pouring rain at
>40 degrees to get home.

Mark,

This isn't quite true.  CommerceNet is a nonprofit consortium, and they
recieved some $6 million from the government (half federal, half state).

It does concern me that CommerceNet is restricting their technology, which
has been paid for in part by the government, to members on a very limited
basis.  To get the reference server implementation, it would cost us
$25,000 - $35,000 depending on how you read the literature.  And it
wouldn't matter if one opted for the less expensive $5,000 associate
membership, because then you would only get the reference client
implementation. Which wouldn't do us any good.

That said, let me say that I believe CommerceNet to be acting in good faith
and, in consideration of resources available and the risks taken by early
members, appropriately.

I will be able to buy the developer's kit in January from Terisa.  If that
actually happens - and I have every reason to believe what I have seen and
heard on this - CommerceNet will have addressed my concerns about where our
(U.S.) government's money is going.  

Yes, I'd like to have it NOW.  But CommerceNet can't be everything to
everyone, and when it comes down to it, they have a first obligation to
their sponsoring membership.  I'll get it when the rest of the market does,
and that fulfills their obligation to the government.

In short, no, CommerceNet isn't just like any other private vendor.
But neither do I feel they are violating any implicit or explicit
obligations to the public.

Just my opinion.

-j

--
Joe Andrieu                          *Internet Construction Ahead*
andrieu@presence.com                      http://www.presence.com/
V.P. of Marketing                              voice: 800-626-6100
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