[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: Why do we write 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! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|