Thread Subject: Re: Combined HardwareSubcommitteeProposal

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From: David Poehlman
Date: Mon, Dec 18 2006 6:30 PM

IPods and other portables can be written to and from. In some cases,
software can be loaded on them so are they really self contained any
more than a computer with its software and operating system?

On Dec 18, 2006, at 8:06 PM, Randy Marsden wrote:

A few more thoughts, after some in-person conversations today:

1. “Self-Contained”, and “Closed” are not synonymous. A self-contained
product can still be accessible.
2. Many Self-Contained products do not fit comfortably into the same
barrel
as computers (such as office equipment like copiers, fax machines, etc).
3. Re-emphasize: “Closed” is not a category of product, but an
attribute
that can describe a product in all of the categories (if it can’t be
accessed by people with disabilities).
4. “Hardware” seems to be too broad a category (but “Desktops &
Portables”
too specific). “Computer Hardware” would nicely cover desktops,
laptops,
portable handhelds, the computer portion of Smartphones, etc. It would
likely also cover the gadgets that have not been invented yet, but
will be
between now and the next 508 refresh.

So, a possible revision to the “merger” proposal would be the following:

Leave the current sub-committees in place, but tweak their names &
scopes as follows:

OLD NAME: “Self-Contained & Closed Systems”
NEW NAME: “Self-Contained”
SCOPE: E&IT products which are self-contained, meaning
they are
not typically open to third-party software or hardware add-ons. They
are
not “computers” in the traditional sense.

OLD NAME: “Desktops and Portables”
NEW NAME: “Computer Hardware”
SCOPE: E&IT products that provide for third-party software
and/or hardware add-ons. For greater certainty, this includes, but
is not
limited to: desktop computers, notebook computers, PDA’s, handheld
computers, Tablet PC’s, UMPC’s, Smartphones, and Dataphones. In the
case of
converged devices (such as Smartphones), the Computer Hardware
subcommittee
would deal with the computer-specific aspects of the hardware only, and
leave the device-specific aspects of the hardware to the other
respective
sub-committees (ie. Telecom, A/V, etc). In other words, Telecom
still deals
with issues related to carriers, TTY’s, etc. A/V still deals with TV
tuner
issues, etc. Computer Hardware deals with computer industry-standard
ports
and interfaces (like USB, etc).

So where do media players fit? (ie. iPod, Zune, etc). At the moment, I
would say they are Self-Contained.

Comments?

-Randy Marsden
ATIA

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