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Are Standards Groups Stifling Innovation?
cpfeifer writes "Jim Waldo expresses a a controversial viewpoint in his blog: "Common wisdom, especially in distributed computing, says that the right approach to all problems is to use a standard. This common wisdom has no basis in fact or history, and is curtailing innovation and rewarding bad behavior in our industry. " He also goes on to clarify his position and explain his reasoning."
...is having so many to choose from.
I only know of two standards that have ever been of lasting use to me:
0
and
1
Everything else is probably just hype.
looks like you need some tussin for that cough, and be sure to check out the standardized labelling on the bottle while you're at it. Can you imagine if each pharmaceutical company had their own means of presenting information as well?
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Common wisdom [..] says that the right approach to all problems is to use a standard. This common wisdom has no basis in fact or history, and is curtailing innovation and rewarding bad behavior in our industry.
So true. The world would be a much better place without standards...
Man: Hello shopkeeper, I'd like to buy some cheese please.
Shopkeeper: Fine sir. How much do you want?
Man: 500 grams.
Shopkeeper: Sorry sir. We don't use grams here. We use flogborts.
Man: What's a flogbort?
Shopkeeper: It's our own system. Much better than grams. I'll explain..
Man: Don't bother. How many grams to a flogbort?
Shopkeeper: A6NG8
Man: What?
Shopkeeper: Sorry sir, we don't use decimal either. We have our own system. I have a diagram somewhere...
Man: Listen, just give me one dollars worth.
Shopkeeper: A dollars worth? I'm afraid we don't accept dollars...
etc. etc.
Everyone knows Z Electric is the best company to go with. I mean you get $100 off your bill every month if subscribe to MSN Internet for the beginner's 10 Year Plan. (Sort of like the whole Best Buy deal you can get) Oh and Microsoft swears it's the best internet you can get next to 1st Generation Text-Based Prodigy.
___ Shout Central - Crushes your nuts!
Would you like to buy a cd only to find out that it will only work on X cdplayer? or a device that's only able to run if you're with Z electricity company?
According to the RIAA and MPAA: Yes.
Read Errant Story.
Seriously, if you're trying to innovate, just go out and do it. Nobody's stopping you.
[Look around] Yo.. You.. You're with th.. tha.. that DMCA prosecution crew, aren't you? I don't know nothin! Nothin' I tell ya! I haven't innovated crap! [Slam Door]
Shopkeeper: A dollars worth? I'm afraid we don't accept dollars...
Man [Angry]: Dammit! Just give me 4N flogborts of cheese then!
Shopkeeper: Ah. We'll have to order it if you want that much Sir. We could have it for you by Four Uppity One on Snorbsday. Is that ok?
Man slams door leaving cheese shop
Shopkeeper [calling after him]: Whippitydee to you Sir! [Under his breath] Snobblefocker.
hmm...looks like he shoulda hosted these articles on BitTorrent
In my day, we didn't have "1", but we got by with 0 factorial just fine!
No, it stands for Object Management Group (the people who came up with CORBA).
I read recently that there is a prion disease where you suffer months of insomnia before dying a slow, agonizing death from neural degeneration. So make sure you bookmark that link. If you ever get that disease, you'll want to print out some OMG standards documents and force yourself to read them. It could save your life someday.