About The Standards Question In The OpenUK Survey | May 26, 2022 | Simon Phipps | Voices of Open Source

"There is a question about “standards” in the OpenUK survey this time around. Why is it there? The UK is an important contributor to global standards. Many international standards were initiated in the UK, and UK experts are significant contributors in many standards developing organizations (SDOs). But how strong is the connection to Open Source? Despite statements implying a connection, standards are essentially orthogonal to Open Source and treating them as inherently related leads to serious misunderstandings. For example, the word “open” itself is understood differently in each. In standards parlance, an “open standard” is one whose development was open to all without discrimination, while to Open Source contributors, “open” means the deliverable may be freely enjoyed by all (used, studied, improved, shared, monetised). So OpenUK and is interested in the overlap between these two realms. What percentage of organisations developing Open Source also develop standards? Of those, what percentage tolerate SEPs?  The hope is that the survey will give us a sense of these areas...."