Re: On the subject of standards - was - On the use of ANSi

malcolm weallans said: > Why do we have standards? And who sets them? And who protects them? > > When I first encountered standards bodies in the computer industry I > thought they were a good idea. > > Then I encountered X.25. A standard for data exchange. The only > problem was there were 4 groups who really defined the X.25 standard, > and they all had a vested interest. OK there were other representatives > on the committee but the people who did all the work and made all the > decisions were suppliers who were selling X.25. And guess what, even > though they all agreed on a standard, each vested interest implemented > the standard in such a way that use of it became almost proprietary. > > As for SQL - another great idea. But who really defined the standard? > Not the user base. Not the hardware companies. But the vested > interest relational database companies. And what does that really mean > to the standard - it is the lowest common denominator of the facilities > available from the vested interests. And again they have all extended > beyond the standard to make their products proprietary. > > So when anybody says "standard" to me I always think of who set up the > standards bodies and why was it set up. Just think about it. What does > ASCII really mean? And why doesn't it work worldwide? What does ANSI > stand for - and is it really the best idea, or the idea that gives the > best profit to the capitalists. > > I'm sorry, but until the users are allowed to define the standards and > the capitalists are kept out of the loop I will treat any "we adhere to > xyz standard" with the contempt it deserves. Right on, brother! Death to the capitalist pigs! Mind you, looking at how hard it is to round up a few people willing to commit to the relatively minor amount of work needed to run, say, a user group, I can only imagine that organising an actual vendor independent standards committee would be ... challenging? -- Bye now, Obnoxio "C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien ' dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule" - Coluche "I'm trying to see things your way, but I can't get my head up my ass" - JCH "Ogni uomo mi guarda come se fossi una testa di cazzo" - Marco http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html sending to informix-list