Leading Standards Organizations Assert Principles of a "New Global Standards Paradigm" - ConsortiumInfo.org

‘The big news in the standards arena yesterday was a joint announcement by five of the standards setting organizations (SSOs) that have been most essential to the creation of the Internet and the Web: IEEE, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and Internet Society (the last three being closely affiliated entities).  Joint announcements by SSOs are rare, and the subject matter of this announcement was more so: each organization was joining in the endorsement of a set of five principles that they assert support a ‘new paradigm for standards’ development.  Most of the principles will likely strike those not familiar with standards development as being rather self-evident ...  But to those that have engaged in debates for many years over what should qualify as an ‘open standard,’ the announcement, and the further information to be found at the Web site established to support the initiative, the message was a bit cryptic.  My own first reaction was to wonder what had inspired the announcement, and what specifically the five SSOs hoped to achieve? I was able to connect with some of the people that were instrumental in constructing the initiative to learn the answers to those questions, and some of the back story leading to the launch.  Before I go there, however, let me provide an overview of the information made available by the five organizations...