World Standards Day 2005

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."

Comments

How many country codes are needed?

[Anonymous Coward]

.. er, one for each country.

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.

Bureaucracy

[redonion]

This is just more bureaucracy. Why not do your best, instead of keeping to minimum standards? We need a society that tries to exceed, not just get by.

ITU

[Bogtha]

It's worth pointing out that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an agency of the United Nations. All the bluster about the EU "taking over" the Internet is actually a move to have the Internet administered in much the same way as the international telephone service.

Bear that in mind before celebrating World Standards Day today and accusing the EU of being petulant children tomorrow.

Re:Okay, here's a standard I'd like to see:

[Seumas]

What I don't understand is why, in all countries, drivers face each other head-on. If you drive on the right side of the road and left side of the car or right side of the car and left side of the road, when driving toward each other, the drivers are always facing each other - so that in a head-on collision, the most possible damage would be done to the drivers. Why? Wouldn't it be safer to have them drive on the right side of the car and the right side of the road or left side of car and road so that you put the most distance between you? If you hit more or less headon in such a situation, the empty side of one car would collide with the empty side of the other car... right?