Re: [xml-dev] Should the XML "recommendation" have an expiration date?

>> Is it ISO or maybe ANSI that charges for standards documents ? I forget
>> which.

> Both.

Not all.� Schematron and RELAX NG and DSDL are free as PDFs. Linux standard base, ODF, OOXML, MPEG 4 as PDFs, are costless too.� Often, if the standard is a conversion of an existing spec from elsewhere that is available free, such as from OASIS or ECMA, you would expect it to be free at ISO too.

See
�http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html

Some committees don't bother to request the free distribution option: I don't know why PDF/X and PDF/A are not on the list for example. Few of the ISO standards are small enough to be implemented by enthusiastic, poor, casual amateurs, and charging prices re-enforces that.� However, the days when only rich corporate, (com, gov, mil, ac) types could implement computer programs, are long gone.

For people's interest: recent withdrawn standards include an explanatory part of ISO PDF/X and a registration procedure relating to security.

Cheers
Rick

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 8:35 AM, Tim Cook <tim@mlhim.org> wrote:

On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 12:28 PM, David Lee <dlee@calldei.com> wrote:
> We should start with the various national legal systems, see how that goes
> :)
>
> * All laws shall expire after 10 years unless voted to re-instate.
>
> I think that would be awesome.

+++1

>
>
>
> But seriously, how does ISO differ from W3C from a business perspective ?
>
> I am always a tad curious what the real business of standards committees and
> how it varies across committees.
>
> Is it ISO or maybe ANSI that charges for standards documents ? I forget
> which.

Both.

>
> That income then funds future development.
>
> W3C doesn't charge for the standards, instead gets income from members ( who
> in turn get to influence the standards).
>
> That �business dynamic may well influence the concept of retiring standards
> as opposed to simply not working more on them.
>
> Just totally guessing here ....

Surely it is part of the business equation; or it wouldn't exist. �But
to not be too cynical. �I think there are good reasons for having a
mandatory review time frame. �I think that W3C just hasn't been around
long enough yet to have seen the need that ISO sees. �But the time
will come when it does.

The specific case that I am aware of is with ISO 13606, and yes
technologies that affect it have changed (especially XML) and that may
well effect portions of that specification.

--Tim

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