31 August 2007

Standards committee turf wars

This item, a dispute and "turf war" between two standards committees, is nothing new in this relatively fractured world of standards development. Liaisons between committees help, but, as this article shows, doesn't always solve the problem. IETF is a relative upstart in this world, so it isn't surprising to me that such a dispute would have occurred. It wasn't the first and won't be the last.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, I am great fan of the centralization. Although centralization sometimes is abused or misused, centralization has a great benefit in avoiding conflicts.

How many times have you and me experience technical conflicts. For example, have you ever tried to upgrade your computer RAM but suddenly you find that the RAM you’ve bought does not work in your computer. As a convention return policy, RAMs and CPUs are usually un-returnable. In another word, once you open it, you cannot return it. So, you try hard to get your $100 back from the dealer but the dealer tells you “ It worked in our system, if it has a manufacture problem I can return it otherwise I am sorry”.

Lets see another simple Telecom common problem. Have you ever tried to access the internet wirelessly in a public place but you could not. Not because you do not have permission or because your computer system is broken, it is just does not work. However, the person who is sitting right next to you is using the Internet perfectly. The reason is you are using a computer (Mac, Toshiba, IBM or Dell … etc.) that does not work with that access point ( Linksys, Netgear or D-link … etc.). in another word, conflict.

The point that I needed to deliver is that in the Telecom business there are tones of organizations that give standers such as IEEE, ITU and IETF. I believe if standers is centralized , lots of conflict and integration problems will be avoided or solved. The benefit of having more than one organization to give standers is to produce job opportunities. Either in the standers organization or the companies that solve the integration problems.