[Numeric-interest] 754R Sponsor Ballot call for consumers

[David Hough at validlab.com]

The IEEE 754R working group is expected to recommend a draft standard to the
IEEE Microprocessor Standards Committee on September 21, 2006.
It is proposed to
replace the withdrawn standards ANSI/IEEE 754-1985 and 854-1987.

MSC will then refer that draft to a Sponsor Ballot group, consisting
of individual experts representing various standards constituencies.
Part of the
MSC chair's responsibilities include obtaining a DIVERSE sponsor ballot
group.    The 754R working group has been dominated by standards
"producers", above all chip implementers, who have of course the most
immediate economic interest in the outcome.
What is especially needed is more standards "consumers," who in this case
are those who will write software within the programming environments
conforming to the draft standard, and those who will use such software.

I vigorously encourage participation
by such consumers.
Details of participation are explained at
http://754r.ucbtest.org/balloting.txt

Note that participation in an IEEE Sponsor Ballot is a significant commitment,
not to be undertaken lightly:

 * Membership in IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA)
 or a participation fee must be paid.
 For IEEE members, IEEE-SA membership is an additional $35/year.

 * Sponsor Ballot group members <b>must</b> return ballots.
 The ballot fails if significant numbers
 of ballot group members fail to act.

 * NO ballots <b>must</b> be accompanied by lists of changes that would
 convert a NO ballot to a YES.

 * It is anticipated that there may be several cycles of balloting,
 response, revision, and resubmittal.

 * The deadline for joining this Sponsor Ballot is Sep 28.    Based on
 my experience this week, I would suggest joining IEEE-SA or paying the
 participation fee by Sep 22 to allow a couple of days for the database
 to be updated before joining the Sponsor Ballot.