Subject: request for comments on the standards process

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 10:09:32 -0500

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

-- 
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| Pete Loshin             http://www.loshin.com               |
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