[ih] Ken Olsen's impact on the Internet

[John Day]

Yes, I believe you are correct.  Most standards committees codify 
current practice after the science and engineering have been done.

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