xml-dev - Re: standards body parallel

[KenNorth <KenNorth@email.msn.com>]

> Results, yes.  Accountability?  Only to members.

This has been an interesting discussion. We seem to have entered a new era.
There was a time we expected standards organizations and governments,
typically elected governments, to carry the banner of standards compliance.
We valued the role of organizations such as ISO, which includes national
standards federations and ballots by member country.

The new model, as evidenced by Java and XML, is to abrogate the traditional
means of promoting  standards. Instead, we see de facto standards emerge
from the corporate world --  either a single corporation and its partners
through a community process (Java), or a consortium with representation and
balloting by member company (XML).

If support for the new model persists, developers and technology consumers
should not look to standards organizations or government agencies to create
or foster new information processing standards.  Instead, we emasculate
standards organizations and delegate their functions to corporations and
consortia.