I hope many of you were able to travel to CONSTRUCT2009 and the CSI Show last week. One of the more interesting things that happened at the Board Meeting on Tuesday was a recommendation to discontinue support and pull the licenses for MasterFormat 1995 Edition at the end of the 2009 calendar year.
The bottom line for users is that the master guide specifications will only be available in the 2004 version in 2010. The MF2004 numbers and titles came out five years ago. The hardcopy became available for purchase in November 2004. So, the Board's decision reflects that a five year transition period is sufficient. So, here's your six month warning.
While this may cause some pain for those who have refused to transition to the more robust version, it eliminates the need for pubishers to continue producing two versions of their product. One of the reasons we were inclined to make this decision, was a lunch presentation by one of our integrators, who described their new product and indicated it would only be available in the 2004 Edition.
I think the light went on above everyone's head. If you're going to develop and promote a standard, then you should stand behind and support it. You can't have two vastly different versions of the standard on the street for an indefinite period of time. Dennis Hall and I, along with two members of the Indianapolis Chapter met with some folks from the state of Indiana last Wednesday. We wanted to let them know, while we were their what was happening well in advance, so they could plan an orderly transition.
I look forward to your comments. See you soon.
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