> *> But the use of a trademark, which stands for "complies with RFCs" > *> could be incredibly valuable.
> I suggest that you read RFCs 1122 and 1123 from cover to cover, and > then ponder whether the nice-sounding phrase "complies with the RFCs" > has any useful meaning. Perhaps you will begin to understand why the > IETF Way is interoperability testing, not conformance testing But you > are free to make your proposal at IAB plenary of the next IETF. Thanks for the comments Bob! I think there is very much a misconception as to what I am proposing. As I've mentioned, I absolutely, positively do not want conformance testing, of any kind! Purely an IETF endorsed logo. If you *want* to use a logo, you send in your $50-$100, sign the agreement that says your product works with the RFCs, and you get permission to use the trademark. Procedures would have to be in place to provide a "logo yank" process in eggregious abuses. It shouldn't be easy to yank a logo, it should be thoroughly peer reviewed. I wouldn't even mind if it took 12 months+ to yank a logo. What I am fundamentally looking for here is a procedure by which there is a control mechanism for defining a vendor trying to be interoperable (which is a huge consumer, customer, and vendor benefit) vs. a vendor that is using taking standards and abusing them in the marketplace. When you yank the logo, it's not like you can't still sell your product. It's just for us, as a vendor, having something like this allows us to contract to supporting "interoperable" third party vendors that are well behaved, and we get an "opt-out" on vendors whom the IETF community has put a big red "X" on. Zero, and I repeat Zero conformance testing. The reality is, standards and RFCs are going to get it only "mostly right" the majority of the time, and standards need to change. But the good faith intentions of a vendor towards interoperability should not change. The very simple logo idea I am proposing is purely a visible rating system at to the good faith intentions of a vendor to be interoperable. I am just saying, we need to reward intoperable vendors with the logo, and give CIOs the option to sign deals with vendors who are truly faithful to standards. I think this idea could help all of the markets significantly in terms of giving everyone a visible mark of interoperability. You get the mark until you absolutely, positively aggregiously abuse it. For 99% of the companies supporting IETF this will be extraordinarily valuable, and help all of us sell our products as well as get some money to have some IETF parties. :) This will only be a pain in the butt for the 1% of particularly powerful vendors who are unwilling to support IETF standards. Kyle Lussier AutoNOC LLC
