Hello--I'm working on an article to appear in CMP's PlanetIT.com website, about standards organizations and their current relevance. I'm looking for comments from participants and leaders in the IETF (as well as participants in other standards organizations, the W3C in particular). If you'd like to share your thoughts, please get back to me in the next couple of days (the deadline for this article is this Friday) with whatever comments/responses you've got to any of the following questions. Please include contact information (phone number, full name, and whatever title or affiliation you wish to be known by). Here they are: - What role do consortiums and standards organizations play in terms of standards that 2001 industries actually use? - What impact do IETF activities have on industry market leaders? For example, IPv6 has been in the pipeline for years, but there are still relatively few fully-developed commercial solutions available. - The HTTP working group has concluded, and the W3C's Web Characterization Activity conclusions appear to be that it's impossible to draw conclusions. Does HTTP have a future, or is it fully mature? - Microsoft is very active in defining standards such as XML, SOAP, XHTML, and others--to what extent does that effectively cede control over these ertswhile open standards to Microsoft? - There is a perception that the IETF (and W3C) used to be much more influential during the course of the Microsoft v Netscape "browser wars", and that now that influence is waning. How accurate is that perception, and what is the reality? I appreciate any contributions you can offer, and hope that this will help make IETF activities more visible as well as more clearly understood. Thank you! -pl -- +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Loshin http://www.loshin.com | | Internet-Standard.com http://Internet-Standard.com | | The RFC Books Series http://www.loshin.com/bigbooks.html | | The Linux Project http://www.thelinuxproject.com | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
