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World Standards Day 2005

Posted by Zonk on from the if-you-want-nerdier-i-don't-know-what-to-tell-you dept.

ewg writes "Today, 2005-10-14, is World Standards Day as celebrated by the IEC, ISO, and ITU. The press release emphasizes the benefits of safety standards, but the interoperability is the true prize for information systems. How many sets of country codes and date formats do we need?" From the release: "International Standards accommodate people's desire to live in a safer, more secure world by providing a valuable safety net. 'Standards for a safer world' is the theme of the message signed by the leaders of the three principal international standardization organizations to mark World Standards Day 2005. Standards developed at the international level through IEC, ISO and ITU are available for use at the national and regional levels to meet the needs of society at large, the market and government regulators," the three leaders point out. They see standards as vital in disseminating best practices and new technologies, while avoiding new barriers to trade that national security and safety regulations may create."

3 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Okay, here's a standard I'd like to see: by Z00L00K · · Score: 2, Informative
    And my favurite is all those road signs that almost always are written in english with no picture in the US. Most of the time they are OK, but sometimes it's just what the heck do they mean...

    Maybe using pictures on the warning signs is too simple? My favourite is this warning for a quay. The most notably that I have seen is the "Right lane must turn right" and similar small signs often almost too late. I would really like the use of graphical lane information signs like the following: lane information before crossing and lane ending information. Everyone ever using Macintosh has probably encountered this sign indicating "worth to see". (Yes, Apple adopted that sign from a swedish road sign.)

    When it comes to driving on the left side - it's not as bad as it sounds, but roundabouts (rotaries that they sometimes are called) are the worst since you expect traffic from the wrong direction.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  2. Re:How many country codes are needed? by truedfx · · Score: 2, Informative

    YYYY-MM-DD is the international ISO standard [...] Nobody ever uses YYYY-DD-MM.

    Actually - nobody is the wrong statement. Sweden and Japan uses the ISO format.

    So who uses YYYY-DD-MM? I think you misread the date format. Either that, or I misread your post :)
  3. Re:How many country codes are needed? by stesch · · Score: 2, Informative
    The date formats annoy me quite often e.g. 13/4/2005 compared to 4/13/2005. Please use 2005-4-13 as it is less confusing.

    I'd prefer the date format according to ISO 8601 instead of your own format. :-)