[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message]

Re: Why do we write standards?

  • From: "Steven R. Newcomb" <srn@t...>
  • To: xml-dev@i...
  • Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 11:54:19 -0600

why do we have standards

Why do I help to create standards?  Because the alternative is to
place everyone's creative work in jeopardy, along with civilization's
memory in general.

I realize that this is just *my* reason and it doesn't have to be
everyone's reason.  I once used a proprietary language to represent my
interactive course in 16th-century counterpoint; it was never
published because Control Data Corporation capriciously and
unnecessarily changed the language.  Ever since then, I've been
working to prevent similar calamities by providing standards that
don't change at the whim of some (consortium of) private interest(s).
The bad guy for me was Control Data Corporation, but it could have
been any technology company.  We shouldn't expect information
technology companies to be responsive to the need of future
generations to exploit today's information assets, and the creative
output of today's artists, scientists, and engineers.  Corporations
have no compelling reason to see that far ahead, and most large
organizations are insufficiently self-aware to learn from their
mistakes anyway.  But somebody needs to pay attention to the problem
of corporate memory at all scales.  I'm just one of the people who are
paying attention, and my way of paying attention is to seek standard
ways of doing things that will make information robust enough to
survive for a very long time.

Why do I help to create ISO standards, as opposed to other kinds?

* Because I don't have access to other standards processes,

* Because ISO standards can't be changed unless it's in the public
  interest to change them, and

* Because ISO standards are at their best when they are even-handedly
  responsive to civilization-wide requirements, rather than merely the
  shorter-sighted desires of some particular industry or consortium.
  When working on ISO standards, I may not feel like I'm going to get
  rich, but I know that I'm working to make all of our descendants a
  lot richer.  Will ISO standards pay off in that way?  I don't know.
  I hope so.

-Steve

--
Steven R. Newcomb, President, TechnoTeacher, Inc.
srn@t...  http://www.techno.com  ftp.techno.com

voice: +1 972 517 7954  <<-- new phone number
fax    +1 972 517 4571  <<-- new fax number
pager (150 characters max): srn-page@t...

Suite 211               <<-- new address
7101 Chase Oaks Boulevard 
Plano, Texas 75025 USA

xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i...
Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1
To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message;
unsubscribe xml-dev
To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message;
subscribe xml-dev-digest
List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)



PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!

Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced!

Buy Stylus Studio Now

Download The World's Best XML IDE!

Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today!

Don't miss another message! Subscribe to this list today.
Email
First Name
Last Name
Company
Subscribe in XML format
RSS 2.0
Atom 0.3
 

Stylus Studio has published XML-DEV in RSS and ATOM formats, enabling users to easily subcribe to the list from their preferred news reader application.


Stylus Studio Sponsored Links are added links designed to provide related and additional information to the visitors of this website. they were not included by the author in the initial post. To view the content without the Sponsor Links please click here.

Site Map | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Trademarks
Free Stylus Studio XML Training:
W3C Member
Stylus Studio® and DataDirect XQuery ™are products from DataDirect Technologies, is a registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation, in the U.S. and other countries. © 2004-2013 All Rights Reserved.