[freearchitecture] "BIM" v. Open information standards

[Steve Hall]

Ok, this really chaps me:

  http://www.aia.org/tap/newsletter/0309/bim.asp

(The AIA is the American Institute of Architects, the social construct
that supposedly oversees the industry interests for architects in the
US.)

They admit the issue with working together electronically is
standards, but then proceed to explain here:

  http://www.aia.org/tap/newsletter/0309/cad.asp

why this can only be made available at a "reasonable cost", with a
membership, not for free. Can't anybody see that standards == free.

The *real* issue here is what we're going to do about it. If those of
us that care about real freedom aren't leading standards, how can we
expect standards (and information sharing) to improve? We must propose
standards for exchanging architectural information, standards that are
cross-platform, multi-disciplinary, and freely available, or we will
be doomed to follow.

What can we do about this here?


-- 
Steve Hall  [ digitect at mindspring.com ]