Gordon Bell on Standards
FYI,
Gordon Bell published an article in ACMQUEUE last month that points out the
obvious to those experienced in standards development, but neglects some of
the positive aspects of standards development. For example, that the process
reveals missing aspects of the innovation and forms a communication among
engineers that benefits the technology, even if no standard, or
useful/accepted standard results.
If you have time, you might want to read his article (five pages) at
http://acmqueue.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=210
He also published a similar article in 1984 in COMPUTER
http://research.microsoft.com/users/GBell/CGB%20Files/Standards%20Can%20Help%20Us%20Computer%20IEEE%208406%20c.pdf
He includes a cute quote from MIT's Dave Clark, an IETF leader:
"Standards setting sits in a boring trough between two exciting peaks. The
first is the peak of technical innovation, and the second is the
billion-dollar investment or market. The problem is that there is not enough
space or time in the trough to get the job done. As soon as someone sees the
opportunity for a billion-dollar investment, they trample you from behind.
They complain that standards setting takes too long, but there is no way it
could happen fast enough once an investor gets the idea behind the technical
innovation. So in that respect, standards setting is a thankless task."
And he references a book titled "The Sisyphus Agenda" ;-)
Jack