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Weblog:   Web Services, Weblogs and the Future.
Subject:   Nice post and analysis
Date:   2003-05-23 19:45:11
From:   kbedell
Standards aren't all bad - for example, look at all the Internet standards (HTTP, SMTP, DNS, etc.). These were all developed by ad hoc groups of individuals and honed through peer review. And they work great - they're the reason the Internet is what it is today.


So called 'standards' that are published by corporations or individuals with agendas to push or axes to grind *are* bad.


So the key to 'good' standards seems to me to be in the structure of the group(s) that develop them and the process of peer review they follow.


Peer review and acceptance is the critical point - which is why Internet standards are all *still* called Requests For Comments (RFC's) years after they are complete.


Though, to be fair, many of the RFC's were crafted by corporations or commercial working groups and then 'proposed' as standards. One that comes to mind is Netscape's proposal for HTTP-session management using cookies - years later it's still in use without substantial change.