archives

Editorial

STANDARDS WARS AND MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION

If terrible events have any value at all, it may be that they act as examples that help to prevent their repetition. The occasional all-out de facto standards wars reminds us that such a high risk strategy really can be MAD.

THE WIRELESS (STANDARDS) HOME OF THE FUTURE

Standards involving many new technologies are being developed to make the home of the future possible today. None are more important to that enterprise than a rapidly expanding family of wireless standards – and few have been more competitively (and sometimes contentiously) agreed upon.

SUBSTANCE AND STRUGGLE

It was not an easy year at any level, as members of SSOs struggled with other members to advance their favorite proposals, the U.S. struggled with the world over “who would govern the Internet”, and everyone struggled with the U.S. patent system.

NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHIMPER

For the last four years, the nations of the world assembled in the WSIS process have spent more time wrangling over “who should govern the Internet” than how to bridge the Digital Divide. Perhaps now that a compromise (of sorts) has been reached, they will be able to get down to the real work for which the WSIS process was intended.

THE SMALL BLUE SPHERE

At key points in history, governments have provided a vital role in accelerating adoption of crucial standards by the private sector. One such instance was the standardization of railway gauges in the 19th century. Today is another, as governments around the world advance the cause of open standards and open source software.

A CALL FOR GREATER COLLABORATION

The voluntary consensus process of standard setting and the legislative process of rule making often share the same goals, and interconnect in many ways. These interconnections will increase in the future, as will the competitive edge of those nations where the public and private sector collaborate most effectively.

ROCKET SCIENCE AND STANDARDS LEADERSHIP

Rocket science may be ultra-sophisticated, but it also depends on a multitude of standards, many of which are unique to space applications. With the languishing of both the Shuttle program and the commercial launch market, the standards infrastructure needed to set these standards has been lagging in development as well.

GOVERNMENTS AS ACCELERATORS

At key points in history, governments have provided a vital role in accelerating adoption of crucial standards by the private sector. One such instance was the standardization of railway gauges in the 19th century. Today is another, as governments around the world advance the cause of open standards and open source software.

WEB OF DREAMS

Tim Berners-Lee brought the Web to the world a decade ago, and we will be forever in his debt. Now he’s trying to give us an upgrade he calls the Semantic Web. Just like the first time, people are having trouble getting it. But if we don’t try harder to “get it,” then we might not get it at all. (Get it?)

THESIS, ANTITHESIS (SYNTHESIS?)

Twenty years ago, we had one, traditional, global standard setting system. Then, with the rise of consortia, the IT industry had two systems. We still do, and perhaps not the best of either.