Voting rules altered for IEEE 802.20 mobile broadband standard
Ah, so now we know why it takes those IEEE task forces so incredibly long to get anything done: infighting. Turns out, the working group for the emerging IEEE 802.20 mobile broadband standard -- "which was suspended last year after a fight over members' real company affiliations" -- has altered its voting rules. Now, each entity will be allowed one vote rather than members voting as individuals "regardless of whom they work for." Essentially, these changes are occurring amidst concern about "domination of the group," and 802.20 Committee Chairman Paul Nikolich reportedly hopes than the voting modification will "help deliver the standard in a timely way." Of course, considering that some of the technology in the protocol was developed by Flarion (which was swallowed by Qualcomm), there could certainly be more problems around the bend beyond a straggle of control freaks.
