Re: cert discussion

[Hal Miller <hal@tera.tera.com>]

zwicky writes:
>  >1) It's a big undertaking, I'm not sure we have the resources in place
>  >   to pull it off.
> 
> We have no idea how big an undertaking it is yet -- it's too early to

I agree with Dave that I'm not yet sure we have the resources to do up a
major certification program, but I more strongly agree with Elizabeth that
we don't yet know what the resource requirement is, and thus can't say for
certain.  There are many options being bandied about, some "cost" more
than others.  One, for example, is the idea that we "certify" other
organization's programs when we have somehow decided that their approach
is valid toward the goals we define.  That shouldn't take too much in the
way of SAGE/USENIX resources, regardless of how deep our pocket may be.
My impression is that we WILL have the resources to cover what we may
eventually come up with.

> *Your* issue is that you're short on people, and certification won't
> help you with that. If we had a certification proposal on hand, and
> an education proposal, and only enough money to fund one of them,
> this would be a good reason to reject the certification proposal.
> But if someone offers me an ice cream cone, and all the ice cream
> they've got is vanilla, I don't turn it down just because I like
> peppermint-stick better. 

Hear hear.  If I had to choose, my choice also would be the education
one, almost hands-down (I'd like to look at them first, but would
almost certainly pick even a relatively poor education one).  However,
we shouldn't be running into that problem here.  I've been beating bushes
looking to get a team together that could make a good case for an
education proposal, and will be working on that even more actively now,
but in the mean time, I have the beginnings of a certification proposal
forming and don't see a need to cut it off (at least with regard to
resource allocation issues.)
-- 
HM