Introduction

We briefly discussed the value and definition of open standards in Chapter 7. There we indicated how important open standards are to the IT community, corporations, and software vendors and suppliers. This is an approach where everyone can benefit. It benefits new technologies by allowing for flexibility and choice.

Standards evolve, develop, and are managed by standards organizations, bodies that manage the agreement on, development of, education in, and future research for standards between all interested parties. Today, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a U.S. government body, there are close to 800,000 global standards on just about every conceivable product, service, object, or endeavor, from shoes to aircraft to mammograms. Cable TV, doorway heights, computer chips, and other innumerable products and services rely in some way on technology and standards.

The standards that apply to the IT industry have been both problem and solution. After 50 years of IT evolution, we are finally coming to the conclusion that it is in everyone's best interest to have standards for better communication and compatibility within and between vendors, suppliers, and users. It has taken us 50 years to reach this point, and we still have some way to go before open standards are universally accepted and implemented. Despite the unqualified benefits of open standards, many software vendors and corporations are reluctant to embrace the new approach.

Open standards address long-term, strategic business/industry issues, not simply the short term, tactical (technical) objectives of a single segment (or company) within the industry. Successful open standards expand the opportunities for the entire industry while providing users with long-term stability for technology. Standards also provide a sound foundation on which users can base their strategic business decisions.