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You already know what havoc has been inflicted on the e-book industry by the builders of the Tower of eBabel–with all those warrning formats that drive consumers beserk. If any industry cries out for nonproprietary standards, it’s ours. But guess what. A new proposal would actually weaken the existing standards movement in a variety of industries. Talk about a conspiracy against the commonweal! From an IT newsletter quoted on the list of the Union for the Public Domain:

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is debating a proposal that calls for royalties on three commonly used standards: the ISO codes for countries, currencies, and languages. IT industry groups, such as the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) have voiced opposition to the proposal and expressed concern that, if the proposal is passed, it will erode the firmly established standards for these ISO codes. In an industry where standards are difficult to establish and are frequently bent and broken, the ISO standards for country, currency, and language, as well as other ISO standards–for example, date formats–have gained widespread acceptance.

But if royalties are required for every product that uses ISO standards, software vendors may abandon the standards. Such a move by the ISO could also have a negative effect on overall standards adherence because developers may feel more confident using their own codes rather than those stablished by a third-party organization. Just imagine the havoc that would result if the United States Postal Service charged royalties for the use of standardized state abbreviations or zip codes.

For more, see a CNet article as well as a protest letter from W3C.

 
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