[ih] Ken Olsen's impact on the Internet

[John Day]

Yes, I believe you are correct.  Most standards committees codify 
current practice.

As Smolin would characterize it, the IETF is the only group to base 
its work on a craft tradition.

At 10:26 -0500 2011/02/14, Miles Fidelman wrote:
>Eric Gade wrote:
>>On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 1:43 PM, Miles Fidelman 
>><mfidelman at meetinghouse.net <mailto:mfidelman at meetinghouse.net>> 
>>wrote:
>>
>>     OSI was an attempt to impose a classical, top-down, standards approach
>>
>>It is my understanding that a top-down process is fairly uncommon 
>>as far as the formation of international technical standards are 
>>concerned, and that OSI was abberant in this regard.
>Really? With the exception of IETF standards, I've seen pretty much 
>everything else get written by committee, then promulgated, then 
>fixed in later revisions.
>
>As far as I can tell, the bottom-up model, based on "rough consensus 
>and running code," as well as multiple interoperable implementations 
>- with a very slow progression from experimental to recommended to 
>mandatory - is unique to IETF.
>
>--
>In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
>In<fnord>  practice, there is.   .... Yogi Berra