Re: The BAA and new BCS membership requirements

Well, despite my earlier interference we haven't got back to the
subject at the head of this topic. We seem to have been totally
hijacked by the BA/BAA fiasco at terminal  - which wasn't actually
finished on opening day: well, the shops were, the baggage system
physically wasn't (missing reinforcing bars for one) & don't get me
started on the unions...

And there I go off topic too. To business:

I haven't seen any support for BCS membership on this group, or in any
face to face meetings I've had. It isn't primarily about money but
control, that is one group attempting to exert authority over another.
Yes it would gain funds from new members, but I don't think that is
its purpose. The cash lump from the Manchester conference is as much a
symbol as anything else. We cetrainly wouldn't have been sustaining
members of the BAA for all these years if we'd known that the BCS had
absorbed the money & was prepared to dole it back to keep the BAA
running.

In defence of the BCS, I've always felt that it was a somewhat
academic organisation, attempting to set some standards for
"excellence" in IT, but the subject is too broad a church and much of
it is in the hands of proprietary organisations which set their own
examinations or controlling organisations: which software methodology
do they support? The DSDM consortium owns it's; Which of the hundreds
of languages do the promote/set the standards for? Python has its own
overload. The hardly want to become another group pushing the
Microsoft line (and its attendant "qualifications"). So what is the
BCS for? Morten is right it's a bit like a medieval programmers'
guild, though we actually have one of those too "The Worshipful
company of Information Technologists" I kid ye not.

I don't think the BCS will attract any of the BAA's overseas members
to join (more that 50% of the membership I believe) & probably 80-90%
of the British members will refuse the BCS offer.

I do worry a little about Stephen's clique maintaining Vector (Not
quite what you ca;;ed it Stephen, I know, and said without malign
intent), new folk do join (in fact it was only a few years ago that
Stephen himself reappeared after a lengthy absence).

I'd prefer an independent, if strwamlined BAA.


So two things remain I feel: we need an official vote 9over to you
Paul, you'll have to get the BCS to send out voting forms); and we
need to start pondering how the the BAA will operate in its life post-
BCS.