Open standard 227018 223977898 2008-07-06T20:05:59Z Evice 90310 Punctuation An '''open standard''' is a [[standard]] that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it. The terms "open" and "standard" have a wide range of meanings associated with their usage. The term "open" is usually restricted to [[royalty-free]] technologies while the term "standard" is sometimes restricted to technologies approved by formalized committees that are open to participation by all interested parties and operate on a consensus basis. The definitions of the term "open standard" used by academics, the European Union and some of its member governments or parliaments such as Denmark, France, and Spain preclude open standards requiring fees for use, as does the Venezuelan Government. On the standard organisation side, the [[W3C]] ensures that its specifications can be implemented on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis. Many definitions of the term "standard" permit patent holders to impose "[[reasonable and non-discriminatory]]" royalty fees and other licensing terms on implementers and/or users of the standard. For example, the rules for standards published by the major internationally recognized standards bodies such as the [[IETF]]<ref>RFC 2026, IETF</ref>, [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]], and [[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] permit their Standards to contain specifications whose implementation will require payment of patent licensing fees (none of these organizations states that they grant "open standards", but only "standards"). ITU-T, the telecommunications branch of [[International Telecommunication Union|ITU]], has a definition of "open standard" that allows "[[reasonable and non-discriminatory]]" licensing. The term "open standard" is sometimes coupled with "open source" with the idea that a standard is not truly open if it does not have a complete free/open source reference implementation available. <ref>[http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/timothy.simcoe/papers/OpenStandards_IPR.pdf Tim Simcoe: 'Chapter 8: Open Standards and Intellectual Property Rights', To appear in ''Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm'']</ref> Open standards which specify formats are sometimes referred to as [[Open format|open formats]]. Many specifications that are sometimes referred to as standards are proprietary and only available under restrictive contract terms (if they can be obtained at all) from the organization that owns the copyright on the specification. As such these specifications are not considered to be fully ''Open''. == Specific definitions of an open standard == === ITU-T definition === The [[ITU-T]] is a [[standards organization|standards development organization]] (SDO) that is one of the three sectors of the [[ITU|International Telecommunications Union]] (a specialized agency of the [[United Nations]]). The ITU-T has a Telecommunication Standardization Bureau director's ''Ad Hoc'' group on IPR that produced the following definition in March 2005, which the ITU-T as a whole has endorsed for its purposes since November 2005 <ref>[http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/othergroups/ipr-adhoc/openstandards.html ITU-T on Open Standards]</ref>: : The [[ITU-T]] has a long history of open standards development. However, recently some different external sources have attempted to define the term "Open Standard" in a variety of different ways. In order to avoid confusion, the ITU-T uses for its purpose the term "Open Standards" per the following definition: : "Open Standards" are standards made available to the general public and are developed (or approved) and maintained via a collaborative and consensus driven process. "Open Standards" facilitate interoperability and data exchange among different products or services and are intended for widespread adoption. : Other elements of "Open Standards" include, but are not limited to: :*Collaborative process – voluntary and market driven development (or approval) following a transparent consensus driven process that is reasonably open to all interested parties. :* Reasonably balanced – ensures that the process is not dominated by any one interest group. :* Due process - includes consideration of and response to comments by interested parties. :* Intellectual property rights (IPRs) – IPRs essential to implement the standard to be licensed to all applicants on a worldwide, non-discriminatory basis, either (1) for free and under other reasonable terms and conditions or (2) on reasonable terms and conditions (which may include monetary compensation). Negotiations are left to the parties concerned and are performed outside the [[SDO]]. :* Quality and level of detail – sufficient to permit the development of a variety of competing implementations of interoperable products or services. Standardized interfaces are not hidden, or controlled other than by the SDO promulgating the standard. :* Publicly available – easily available for implementation and use, at a reasonable price. Publication of the text of a standard by others is permitted only with the prior approval of the SDO. :* On-going support – maintained and supported over a long period of time. The [[ITU-T]], [[ITU-R]], [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]], and [[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] have harmonized on a common patent policy <ref>[http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/ipr/ ITU-T on IPR]</ref> under the banner of the [[World Standards Cooperation|WSC]]. Anyway, the above ITU-T definition cannot be considered also applicable in ITU-R, ISO and IEC contexts, since the Common Patent Policy <ref>[http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2122/3770791/customview.html?func=ll&objId=3770791&objAction=browse&sort=name ISO TC on Common Patent Policy]</ref> does not make any reference to "open standards" but only to "standards". === European Union definition === The [[European Union]] adopted the following definition in its European Interoperability Framework<ref>[http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/3761 European Interoperability Framework for pan-European eGovernment Services, page 17 (Version 1.0, 2004)]</ref>: <blockquote> USE OF OPEN STANDARDS To attain interoperability in the context of pan-European eGovernment services, guidance needs to focus on open standards. The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an open standard: * The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a [[Non-profit organization|not-for-profit organization]], and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties (consensus or majority decision etc.). * The standard has been published and the standard specification document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a nominal fee. * The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis. * There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard. </blockquote> === Danish government definition === The Danish government has attempted to make a definition of open standards <ref>[http://www.oio.dk/files/040622_Definition_of_open_standards.pdf "Definitions of Open Standards", 2004]</ref>, which also is used in pan-European software development projects. It states: <blockquote> * An open standard is accessible to everyone free of charge (i.e. there is no discrimination between users, and no payment or other considerations are required as a condition of use of the standard) * An open standard of necessity remains accessible and free of charge (i.e. owners renounce their options, if indeed such exist, to limit access to the standard at a later date, for example, by committing themselves to openness during the remainder of a possible patent's life) *An open standard is accessible free of charge and documented in all its details (i.e. all aspects of the standard are transparent and documented, and both access to and use of the documentation is free) </blockquote> === French law definition === The French Parliament approved a definition of "open standard" in its "Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy".<ref>[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=ECOX0200175L "Loi nº 2004-575" for the Confidence in the Digital Economy", June, 21nd 2004]</ref> The definition is:<ref>[http://www.EstandaresAbiertos.org "Estándares Abiertos"]</ref> <blockquote> * By open standard is understood any communication, interconnection or interchange protocol, and any interoperable data format whose specifications are public and without any restriction in their access or implementation. </blockquote> === Spanish law definition === A Law passed by the Spanish Parliament <ref>[http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2007/06/23/pdfs/A27150-27166.pdf "Ley 11/2007" of Public Electronic Access of the Citizens to the Public Services, June, 22nd 2007]</ref> requires that all electronic services provided by the Spanish public administration must be based on open standards. It defines an open standard as royalty free, according to the following definition:<ref>[http://www.EstandaresAbiertos.org "Estándares Abiertos"]</ref> <blockquote> An open standard fulfills the following conditions: * it is public, and its use is available on a free [gratis] basis, or at a cost that does not imply a difficulty for the user. * its use is not subject to the payment of any intellectual or industrial property right. </blockquote> === Venezuelan law definition === The Venezuelan Government approved a "free software and open standards law".<ref>[http://www.gobiernoenlinea.ve/docMgr/sharedfiles/Decreto3390.pdf "Decreto 3390" of Free Software and Open Standards, December, 23rd 2004]</ref> The decree includes the requirement that the Venezuelan public sector must use free software based on open standards, and includes a definition of open standard:<ref>[http://www.EstandaresAbiertos.org "Estándares Abiertos"]</ref> <blockquote> Article 2: for the purposes of this Decree, it shall be understood as </blockquote> <blockquote> k) Open standards: technical specifications, published and controlled by an organization in charge of their development, that have been accepted by the industry, available to everybody for their implementation in free software or other [type of software], promoting competitivity, interoperability and flexibility. </blockquote> === Bruce Perens' definition === One of the most popular definitions of the term "open standard", as measured by Google ranking, is the one developed by [[Bruce Perens]]. <ref>[http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/opendocument-open.html Is OpenDocument an Open Standard? Yes!]</ref> His [http://perens.com/OpenStandards/Definition.html definition] lists a set of principles that he believes must be met by an open standard: #Availability: Open Standards are available for all to read and implement. #Maximize End-User Choice: Open Standards create a fair, competitive market for implementations of the standard. They do not lock the customer in to a particular vendor or group. #No Royalty: Open Standards are free for all to ''implement'', with no royalty or fee. ''Certification'' of compliance by the standards organization may involve a fee. #No Discrimination: Open Standards and the organizations that administer them do not favor one implementor over another for any reason other than the technical standards compliance of a vendor’s implementation. Certification organizations must provide a path for low and zero-cost implementations to be validated, but may also provide enhanced certification services. #Extension or Subset: Implementations of Open Standards may be extended, or offered in subset form. However, certification organizations may decline to certify subset implementations, and may place requirements upon extensions (see ''Predatory Practices''). #Predatory Practices: Open Standards may employ license terms that protect against subversion of the standard by ''[[Embrace, extend and extinguish|embrace-and-extend]]'' tactics. The licenses attached to the standard may require the publication of reference information for extensions, and a license for all others to create, distribute, and sell software that is compatible with the extensions. An Open Standard may not otherwise prohibit extensions. === Open Source Initiative's definition === The [[Open Source Initiative]] defines the requirements and criteria for open standards as follows:<ref>[http://opensource.org/osr Open Standards Requirement for Software]</ref> '''The Requirement''' An "open standard" must not prohibit conforming implementations in open source software. '''The Criteria''' To comply with the Open Standards Requirement, an "open standard" must satisfy the following criteria. If an "open standard" does not meet these criteria, it will be discriminating against open source developers. # No Intentional Secrets: The standard MUST NOT withhold any detail necessary for interoperable implementation. As flaws are inevitable, the standard MUST define a process for fixing flaws identified during implementation and interoperability testing and to incorporate said changes into a revised version or superseding version of the standard to be released under terms that do not violate the OSR. # Availability: The standard MUST be freely and publicly available (e.g., from a stable web site) under royalty-free terms at reasonable and non-discriminatory cost. # Patents: All patents essential to implementation of the standard MUST: #* be licensed under royalty-free terms for unrestricted use, or #* be covered by a promise of non-assertion when practiced by open source software # No Agreements: There MUST NOT be any requirement for execution of a license agreement, NDA, grant, click-through, or any other form of paperwork to deploy conforming implementations of the standard. # No OSR-Incompatible Dependencies: Implementation of the standard MUST NOT require any other technology that fails to meet the criteria of this Requirement. === Ken Krechmer's definition === Ken Krechmer<ref>[http://www.csrstds.com/openstds.html Ken Krechmer, The Meaning of Open Standards]</ref> identifies ten "rights": #Open Meeting #Consensus #Due Process #Open IPR #One World #Open Change #Open Documents #Open Interface #Open Use #On-going Support === World Wide Web Consortium's definition === As one of the important providers of Web technology [[Information and Communications Technology|ICT]] Standards, notably [[Extensible Markup Language|XML]], [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol|http]], [[Hypertext Markup Language|HTML]], [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]] and [[Web Accessibility Initiative|WAI]], the [[World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C) follows a process that promotes the development of high-quality standards. The W3C process defines the following set of requirements that the provider of a technical specification must follow for that specification to qualify as an Open Standard.<ref>[http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process World Wide Web Consortium Process Document]</ref> <blockquote> * transparency (due process is public, and all technical discussions, meeting minutes, are archived and referencable in decision making) * relevance (new standardization is started upon due analysis of the market needs, including requirements phase, e.g. accessibility, multi-linguism) * openness (anybody can participate, and everybody does: industry, individual, public, government bodies, academia, on a worldwide scale) * impartiality and consensus (guaranteed fairness by the process and the neutral hosting of the W3C organization, with equal weight for each participant) * availability (free access to the standard text, both during development and at final stage, translations, and clear IPR rules for implementation, allowing open source development in the case of Web technologies) * maintenance (ongoing process for testing, errata, revision, permanent access) </blockquote> === Digital Standards Organization definition === The Digital Standards Organization states that "an open standard must be aimed at creating unrestricted competition between vendors and unrestricted choice for users".<ref>[http://www.digistan.org/text:rationale Defining "Open Standard"]</ref> Its brief definition of "open standard" (or "free and open standard") is "a published specification that is immune to vendor capture at all stages in its life-cycle". Its more complete definition as follows: * "The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit organization, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties. * The standard has been published and the standard specification document is available freely. It must be permissible to all to copy, distribute, and use it freely. * The patents possibly present on (parts of) the standard are made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis. * There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard. A key defining property is that an open standard is immune to vendor capture at all stages in its life-cycle. Immunity from vendor capture makes it possible to improve upon, trust, and extend an open standard over time."<ref>[http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition What is an Open Standard?]</ref> This definition is based on the EU's EIF v1 definition of "open standard", but with changes to address what it terms as "vendor capture". They believe that "Many groups and individuals have provided definitions for 'open standard' that reflect their economic interests in the standards process. We see that the fundamental conflict is between vendors who seek to capture markets and raise costs, and the market at large, which seeks freedom and lower costs... Vendors work hard to turn open standards into franchise standards. They work to change the statutory language so they can cloak franchise standards in the sheep's clothing of 'open standard'. A robust definition of "free and open standard" must thus take into account the direct economic conflict between vendors and the market at large."<ref>[http://www.digistan.org/text:rationale Defining "Open Standard"]</ref> ==Examples of open standards== ===System=== *[[WWW|World Wide Web]] architecture specified by [[W3C]]<ref>[http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/ WWW architecture]</ref> ===Hardware=== {{Unreferencedsection|date=June 2008}} ''See also: [[Open source hardware]].'' *[[Industry Standard Architecture]] (ISA) (a specification by IBM for plug-in boards to IBM-architecture PCs, later standardized by the IEEE) *[[Peripheral Component Interconnect]] (PCI) (a specification by Intel Corporation for plug-in boards to IBM-architecture PCs) *[[Accelerated Graphics Port]] (AGP) (a specification by Intel Corporation for plug-in boards to IBM-architecture PCs) ===File formats=== ''See also: [[Open format]].'' *[[Computer Graphics Metafile]] (CGM) (file format for 2D [[vector graphics]], [[raster graphics]], and [[character (computer)|text]] defined by [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] 8632<ref>[http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html ISO/IEC 8632]</ref>) *[[HTML|Hypertext Markup Language]] (HTML) and [[XHTML|Extensible HTML]] (XHTML) (specifications of the [[W3C]] for structured hyperlinked document formatting) *[[Portable Document Format]] (PDF/X) (a specification by [[Adobe Systems|Adobe Systems Incorporated]] for formatted documents, later approved by [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] as ISO 15930-1:2001 <ref>[http://www.pdf-x.com/pdfx_123_1.php Portable Document File (PDF) format specification]</ref>) *[[OpenDocument]] Format (ODF) (a specification by [[OASIS (organization)|OASIS]] for office document formats, approved by [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] as [[ISO/IEC 26300]]) *[[Portable Network Graphics]] (PNG) (a [[Raster graphics|bitmapped]] [[Graphics file format|image format]] that employs [[lossless data compression]], approved by [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] as [http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=29581&scopelist=PROGRAMME ISO/IEC 15948:2004]) *[[Ogg]] (a container for [[Vorbis]], [[FLAC]], [[Speex]] (audio formats) & [[Theora]] (a video format), by the [[Xiph.Org Foundation]]) ===Protocols=== *[[Internet Protocol]] (IP) (a specification of the [[IETF]] for transmitting packets of data on a network - specifically, IETF RFC 791) *[[Transmission Control Protocol]] (TCP) (a specification of the [[IETF]] for implementing streams of data on top of [[Internet Protocol|IP]] - specifically, IETF [[RFC 793]]) *[[SyncML|OMA Data Synchronization and Device Management]] (a [[platform-independent]] [[data synchronization]] protocol, specified by [[The SyncML Initiative]]/[[Open Mobile Alliance]]) ===Programming languages=== *[[Ada (programming language)|Ada]] (a [[multi-paradigm programming language]], defined by joint [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[American National Standards Institute|ANSI]] standard ([http://www.adaic.org/standards/95lrm/html/RM-TTL.html ISO-8652:1995]), combined with major Amendment [http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=45001 ISO/IEC 8652:1995/Amd 1:2007]) *[[MUMPS]] (a [[Type_system#Dynamic_typing|dynamically typed programming language]], originally designed for [[database]]-driven applications in the [[Health care|healthcare industry]] approved by [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] as [http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=19978 ISO/IEC 11756:1992] and [http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=29268 ISO/IEC 11756:1999]) *[[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] (a [[general-purpose programming language]], approved by [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] as [http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=36768 ISO/IEC 23270] and [[Ecma International|ECMA]] as [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-334.htm ECMA-334]) ===Other=== *[[Common Information Model (computing)|Common Information Model]] (CIM) (a specification by [[Distributed Management Task Force|DMTF]] for defining how managed elements in an [[Information technology|IT environment]] are represented as a common set of [[Object (computer science)|objects]] and relationships between them) *[[CD-ROM]] ([[Yellow Book (CD standard)|Yellow Book]]) (a specification for data interchange on read-only 120 mm optical data disks, approved by [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] as [http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=25869 ISO/IEC 10149] and [[Ecma International|ECMA]] as [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-130.htm ECMA-130]) *[[APML|Attention Profiling Markup Language]] (APML) <!-- following not really open per their site: *[[National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol|NTCIP]] (National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol) --> ==Patents== In [[2002]] and [[2003]] the controversy about using [[reasonable and non-discriminatory]] (RAND) [[licensing]] for the use of patented technology in [[web standard]]s increased. [[Bruce Perens]], important associations as [[FSF]] or [http://www.ffii.org FFII] and others have argued that the use of [[patent]]s restricts who can implement a standard to those able or willing to pay for the use of the patented technology. The [[requirement]] to pay some small amount per user, is often an insurmountable problem for free/open source software implementations which can be redistributed by anyone. [[Royalty-free|Royalty free]] (RF) licensing is generally the only possible license for free/open source software implementations. Version 3 of the [[GNU General Public License]] includes a section that enjoins anyone who distributes a program released under the GPL from enforcing patents on subsequent users of the software or derivative works. One result of this controversy was that many governments (including the Danish, French and Spanish governments singly and the EU collectively) specifically affirmed that "open standards" required royalty-free licenses. Some standards organizations, such as the [[W3C]], modified their processes to essentially only permit royalty-free licensing. [[Oasis-Open]] allows committees to operate either on a RAND basis or a royalty-free basis, but OASIS does say to grant "open standards" when they are not royalty-free. Patents for [[software patent|software, formulas and algorithms]] are currently enforceable in the US but not in the EU. The [http://www.european-patent-office.org/legal/epc/e/ar52.html#A52_2_c European Patent Convention Article 52 paragraph (2)(c)] expressly prohibits algorithms, business methods and software from being covered by patents. The US has only allowed them since 1989 and there has been growing controversy in recent years as to either the benefit or feasibility. A standards body and its associated processes cannot ''force'' a patent holder to give up its right to charge license fees, especially if the company concerned is not a member of the standards body and unconstrained by any rules that were set during the standards development process. In fact, this element discourages some standards bodies from adopting an "open" approach, fearing that they will lose out if their members are more constrained than non-members. Few bodies will carry out (or require their members to carry out) a full patent search. Ultimately, the only sanctions a standards body can apply on a non-member when patent licensing is demanded is to cancel the standard, try to rework around it, or work to invalidate the patent. Standards bodies such as W3C and OASIS require{{Fact|date=June 2008}} that the use of required patents be granted under a royalty-free license as a condition for joining the body or a particular working group, and this is generally considered enforceable.{{Fact|date=June 2008}} ==Quotes== *EU Commissioner [[Erkki Liikanen]]: "Open standards are important to help create interoperable and affordable solutions for everybody. They also promote competition by setting up a technical playing field that is level to all market players. This means lower costs for enterprises and, ultimately, the consumer." ([[World Standards Day]], [[14 October]], [[2003]]) <ref>[http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/1374%7C0%7CRAPID&lg=EN EU Commissioner Erkki Liikanen on Open Standards]</ref> * Jorma Ollila, Chairman of Nokia's Board of Directors: "... Open standards and platforms create a foundation for success. They enable interoperability of technologies and encourage innovativeness and healthy competition, which in turn increases consumer choice and opens entirely new markets," (<ref>[http://www.kauppalehti.fi/4/i/eng/releases/press_release.jsp?selected=other&oid=20061101/11642616280200&lang=EN Nokia Foundation Award to Mårten Mickos]</ref>, 2006) *W3C Director [[Tim Berners-Lee]]: "The decision to make the Web an open system was necessary for it to be universal. You can't propose that something be a universal space and at the same time keep control of it." <ref>[http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html Tim Berners-Lee's FAQ]</ref> <!-- Commented out long merged section for now - it needs much work to integrate with article~~~~ ==Legitimacy of standards== {{POV-section|date=December 2007}}{{Unreferenced-section|date=July 2007}} '''Legitimate standards''' are, to some critics, only those [[standardization|standard]]s whose documentation can be downloaded free-of-charge, and which can be implemented without [[royalties]] or other restrictions. [[Request for Comments|Internet Request for Comments]] (RFCs) are an example of such [[open standards]]. However, many standards organisations attempt to support themselves by restricting standard documentation through [[copyright]]s (and selling copies), and restricting implementation through [[patent]]s (and selling licenses). While this second approach does solve the issue of how to pay for the time (and sometimes travel for meetings, and in some cases on-location research) of those writing the standards, it can cause significant problems. Standards which cost money to purchase and/or license cause significant problems for: * developers of [[free software]] and [[open hardware]]; * electronics hobbyists; * manufacturers of small-volume products; and * those developing new products who [[Startup company|lack sufficient access to capital]]. An engineer may spend more time just trying to figure out what is involved in implementing and licensing such a standard than it would take to actually implement an open standard. Expensive standards often show evidence of having been [[Design by committee|designed by a committee]]. Sometimes, they appear to have gratuitous deviations from existing practice that appear to serve the interests of the standards organization in creating protectable [[intellectual property]], rather than the societal interests. When standards documents are not affordable, it can cause trouble for technicians trying to debug systems, as well as intelligent end users trying to evaluate or understand the technology. Standards committee members sometimes double-dip by selling books or classes on how to implement a standard; the more arbitrary the standard, the more market for these add-on products. Some formal standards are developed by people who are more office politicians than engineers. Sometimes, licensing of standards is also used to [[Digital rights management|circumvent a user's legal rights to fair use copying]] by preventing the development of equipment or software that allows such copying. Sometimes, standards organizations may involve companies with vested interests that all "contribute" patents (subject to licensing), when freely available [[technology]] would have done better. Some standards organizations appear to collect millions of dollars a year for a single standard, or a small set of closely related standards, yet appear to do very little in terms of active standards development. There are some alternative ways of funding standards: * funding by governments (for example, [[NIST]]); * making money from optional compatibility [[certification mark]] licensing, rather than patent licensing; * developing standards, and making them open to all to create a market; * developing own standards by end-users. * instituting cost cutting measures, including using [[teleconference]], rather than expensive travel; * developing standards by one person, or a few people, and simply offering up for use (such as internet RFCs); where if anyone likes it, they can use it, otherwise, they can come up with a better standard or suggest revisions. It is worth noting the outcome of the competition between the truly open standards of the [[TCP/IP]] [[protocol stack]] (the basis of the Internet), the designed-by-committee and pay for copies [[OSI model|OSI protocol stack]], and the various vendor [[proprietary]] [[Wide area network|WAN]] standards ([[Decnet]],[[SNA]]). TCP/IP dominates. Less open standards are more competitive when: * there are no open alternatives; * they get to the market first; * extensive marketing is used to prop them up; * they have a significant technical advantage. === Legitimacy/Openness factors === * Is the standard documented? * Is the standard available for all to use, or is it intended to create a [[monopoly]] or [[vendor lock-in]]? * Is the documentation available for immediate download, free of charge? * Can the standard be implemented without payment of [[royalties]], membership, or license fees? * Does licensing the standard pose other restrictions (such as copy protection enforcement)? * Is sufficient information available to implement the standard without purchasing official documents? * Are there any patents interfering with the implementation of the standard? * Are [[trademark]]s enforced in such a way as to interfere with the use of the standard? * Does the standard avoid arbitrary deviations from existing standard practice? * Does the standard use appropriate technology? * Is the standard supported by multiple companies? * Are licensing fees stated up front? * Is uniform licensing available (all companies pay comparable fee per unit)? * Are licensing fees reasonable for small volumes (1-1000 units)? Is overhead minimal? * Are licenses free if the product is free? * How does the openness of the standard compare to competing standards? * Is the standard extensible? * Is the standard locked to a particular platform? === Some examples === Here are some comparisons between different formats.. * WAN: [[TCP/IP]] is much more open than the [[Open Systems Interconnection|OSI]] protocol suite, Decnet, SNA, etc. * LAN: TCP/IP is much more open than [[NBF]], the [[NetWare]] protocol stack, etc. * Video/Audio: "Ogg [[Vorbis]] Audio" and "Ogg [[Theora]] Video" are much more open than other formats, including those with official standards such as [[MP3]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[MPEG]]1/2/4, etc. Ogg standards are free. Vorbis is patent-free and Theora's patents are automatically licensed, free of charge. Vorbis also appears to offer better audio quality than MP3 or AAC. For [[streaming audio]], [[Icecast]] and [[Peercast]] are more open than RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. MPEG2 patents reportedly cost $2.50 per device (no minimums or annual fees), but there are additional royalties for streaming services, media, etc. * Instant Messaging: [[Jabber]] is much more open than [[AIM]], [[ICQ]], [[MSN]], [[Yahoo Messenger]], etc. However, companies such as [[AOL]] have tried to sabotage Jabber by blocking the gateways between Jabber and AIM/ICQ. * Office Applications: [[OpenDocument]] and [[Office Open XML]] files are much more open than the old [[Microsoft Office]] binary file formats which are proprietary Microsoft controlled formats that are freely available and free to implement. * Flash memory: [[Multi Media Card|MMC]] is more open than [[Secure Digital Card]] (though the two are largely interchangeable, if used carefully. SD-card is more open than [[xD-Picture Card]] or [[Sony Memory Stick]]. [[CompactFlash]], based closely on [[Advanced Technology Attachment|ATA]], is more open than SD-card. * [[Universal Serial Bus|USB]] appears to be more open than [[FireWire]]. USB standards can be downloaded for free, and there do not appear to be any licensing fees if one does not use the USB-certified logos. FireWire ports are covered by dozens of patents; these patents can be licensed for $0.25 per device with no minimum or annual fees. === Examples outside of computer technology === * One of the earliest and most successful examples of an independent standards organization promoting open standards that could be freely used by hobbyists and commercial manufacturers alike has been the [[National Model Railroad Association]]. Prior to the NMRA's inception, most manufacturers had their own proprietary standards for track, wheels, and so forth, and it was quite rare for commercial models made by different manufacturers to operate well together. In 1935, the hobbyists took charge, forming the NMRA, developing open standards to promote free interchange of models, and making it known that even among non-member hobbyists, compliance with those standards would be worth more to a manufacturer than any intentional incompatibility could possibly be. End of commented out section merged in from "Legitimacy of standards"~~~~ --> [[Category:Standards]] ==See also== *[[Open system (computing)]] *[[Open specifications]] *[[Conformity assessment]] *[[Specification (technical standard)]] *[[Vendor lock-in]] *[[Network effect]] *[[Free software]] == References == {{reflist|2}} ==External links== *Berkman Center for Internet & Society at [[Harvard Law School]], [[Open ePolicy Group]], [http://www.apdip.net/resources/policies-legislation/guide/Berkman-Roadmap4OpenICTEcosystems.pdf Roadmap for Open ICT Ecosystems] *[[Bruce Perens]]: [http://perens.com/OpenStandards/ Open Standards: Principles and Practice] *[[Ken Krechmer]]: [http://www.csrstds.com/openstds.html The Principles of Open Standards] *[[Bob Sutor]]: [http://www.sutor.com/newsite/essays/e-OsVsOss.php Open Standards vs. Open Source: How to think about software, standards, and Service Oriented Architecture at the beginning of the 21st century] *[[European Commission]]: [http://europa.eu.int/idabc/servlets/Doc?id=1928 Valoris report on Open Document Formats] *''[[The New York Times]]'': [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/technology/09open.html?ex=1283918400&en=91f207f077cec245&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Steve Lohr: 'Plan by 13 Nations Urges Open Technology Standards'] [[Category:Standards]] *[[IOSN|UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Network]]: [http://www.iosn.net/open-standards/foss-open-standards-primer Free/Open Source Software: Open Standards Primer] *[http://www.openstandards.net OpenStandards.net: An Open Standards Portal] *[http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/opendocument-open.html Is OpenDocument an Open Standard? Yes!] develops a unified definition of "open standard" from multiple sources, then applies it to a particular standard *[[Open Source Initiative]]: [http://opensource.org/osr/ Open Standard Requirement for Software] *[[Open Standards]]: [http://xml.coverpages.org/openStandards.html Definitions of "Open Standards" from the Cover Pages] *[[Standard Categories and Definitions]]: [http://action.ffii.org/openstandards Categories and definitions of the different types of standards - by FFII Open Standards Work Group] [[ca:Estàndard obert]] [[da:Åben standard]] [[de:Offener Standard]] [[el:Ανοιχτά πρότυπα]] [[es:Estándar abierto]] [[fa:استاندارد باز]] [[ko:오픈 표준]] [[lt:Atviras standartas]] [[nl:Open standaard]] [[ja:オープン標準]] [[no:Åpen standard]] [[pl:Otwarty standard]] [[ru:Открытый стандарт]] [[sv:Öppen standard]]