I met today with officials of the PCI-SIG, who are very motivated to serve the interests of you guys, the site users who have posted here and contacted them directly. It was a positive exchange, and we're still talking about what will happen to the site.
In the meantime, I've agreed to put the site back on line temporarily, with some cosmetic changes. It's worth noting that it was the SIG who wanted to see the site back up as early as possible. For whatever problems they've caused, they are making a good faith effort to solve them, and to be sure your needs are served. They heard you!
So I just wanted to let you know that as more happens, I'll post the situation on the web site. And, I wanted to thank all of you for your involvement, including those who have been critical of me in this. This community is stronger than any of us realized.
I had some of the same thoughts, but only momentarily. First, the world really isn't full of JR Ewings. Second, having worked for IBM for years, I can tell you that they would wrap themselves into a pretzel to avoid even the HINT of dealing in bad faith. While of course there can always be a bad apple, I've never seen IBM behave in less than an exemplary fashion in a legal venue -- I have absolutely ZERO concern that IBM is behind this.
There's been quite an outpouring of support for me and the Lists since I took them down two days ago. I'm gratified by that -- it's nice to know that what I've been doing has been of benefit to people.
I've spent the last hour or so talking with the President of the PCI-SIG. He's been very gracious, and has accepted responsibility for the lawyer's actions (though more due to his inaction than a desire to get the lawyer involved). We will be meeting next week to discuss how to proceed. While I still consider the net effect to be pretty outrageous (at least until measured against the rest of our litigious society), I want to stress that the President didn't start this ball rolling consciously, and is making a good faith effort to find a reasonable solution.
The SIG has been flooded by mail on this issue, enough that it's keeping them from doing their real work. They really have gotten the message from the PCI community at this point, so I'd ask you to think twice before sending them more mail on the subject. I'll keep the web site updated as things progress.
jim
Slashdot Mirror
In the meantime, I've agreed to put the site back on line temporarily, with some cosmetic changes. It's worth noting that it was the SIG who wanted to see the site back up as early as possible. For whatever problems they've caused, they are making a good faith effort to solve them, and to be sure your needs are served. They heard you!
So I just wanted to let you know that as more happens, I'll post the situation on the web site. And, I wanted to thank all of you for your involvement, including those who have been critical of me in this. This community is stronger than any of us realized.
jim
jim
You're quite right -- I'm in the other window updating the web site as we speak.
There's been quite an outpouring of support for me and the Lists since I took them down two days ago. I'm gratified by that -- it's nice to know that what I've been doing has been of benefit to people.
I've spent the last hour or so talking with the President of the PCI-SIG. He's been very gracious, and has accepted responsibility for the lawyer's actions (though more due to his inaction than a desire to get the lawyer involved). We will be meeting next week to discuss how to proceed. While I still consider the net effect to be pretty outrageous (at least until measured against the rest of our litigious society), I want to stress that the President didn't start this ball rolling consciously, and is making a good faith effort to find a reasonable solution.
The SIG has been flooded by mail on this issue, enough that it's keeping them from doing their real work. They really have gotten the message from the PCI community at this point, so I'd ask you to think twice before sending them more mail on the subject. I'll keep the web site updated as things progress.
jim