blog/data/2010-12-27-open-standard.txt

   1 Title: The many definitions of open standard
   2 Tags: english, standard
   3 Date: 2010-12-27 14:30
   4
   5 <p>One of the reasons I like the Digistan definition of
   6 "<a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Free and
   7 Open Standard</a>" is that this is a new term, and thus the meaning of
   8 the term has been decided by Digistan.  The term "Open Standard" has
   9 become so misunderstood that it is no longer useful very when talking
  10 about standards.  One end up discussing which definition is the best
  11 one and with such frame the only one gaining are the proponents of
  12 de-facto standards and proprietary solutions.</p>
  13
  14 <p>But to give us an idea about the diversity of definitions of open
  15 standards, here are a few that I know about.  This list is not
  16 complete, but can be a starting point for those that want to do a
  17 complete survey.  More definitions are available on the
  18 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">wikipedia
  19 page</a>.</p>
  20
  21 <p>First off is my favourite, the definition from the European
  22 Interoperability Framework version 1.0.  Really sad to notice that BSA
  23 and others has succeeded in getting it removed from version 2.0 of the
  24 framework by stacking the committee drafting the new version with
  25 their own people.  Anyway, the definition is still available and it
  26 include the key properties needed to make sure everyone can use a
  27 specification on equal terms.</p>
  28
  29 <blockquote>
  30
  31 <p>The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification
  32 and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an
  33 open standard:</p>
  34
  35 <ul>
  36
  37 <li>The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit
  38 organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an
  39 open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties
  40 (consensus or majority decision etc.).</li>
  41
  42 <li>The standard has been published and the standard specification
  43 document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be
  44 permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a
  45 nominal fee.</li>
  46
  47 <li>The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of
  48 (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-
  49 free basis.</li>
  50
  51 <li>There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.</li>
  52
  53 </ul>
  54 </blockquote>
  55
  56 <p>Another one originates from by friends over at
  57 <a href="http://www.dkuug.dk/">DKUUG</a>, who coined and gathered
  58 support for <a href="http://www.aaben-standard.dk/">this
  59 definition</a> in 2004.  It even made it into the Danish parlament as
  60 <a href="http://www.ft.dk/dokumenter/tingdok.aspx?/samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/som_fremsat.htm">their
  61 definition of a open standard</a>.  Another from a different part of
  62 the Danish government is available from the wikipedia page.</p>
  63
  64 <blockquote>
  65
  66 <p>En åben standard opfylder følgende krav:</p>
  67
  68 <ol>
  69
  70 <li>Veldokumenteret med den fuldstændige specifikation offentligt
  71 tilgængelig.</li>
  72
  73 <li>Frit implementerbar uden økonomiske, politiske eller juridiske
  74 begrænsninger på implementation og anvendelse.</li>
  75
  76 <li>Standardiseret og vedligeholdt i et åbent forum (en såkaldt
  77 "standardiseringsorganisation") via en åben proces.</li>
  78
  79 </ol>
  80
  81 </blockquote>
  82
  83 <p>Then there is <a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/os/def.html">the
  84 definition</a> from Free Software Foundation Europe.</p>
  85
  86 <blockquote>
  87
  88 <p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
  89
  90 <ol>
  91
  92 <li>subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a
  93 manner equally available to all parties;</li>
  94
  95 <li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies on
  96 formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open
  97 Standard themselves;</li>
  98
  99 <li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by
 100 any party or in any business model;</li>
 101
 102 <li>managed and further developed independently of any single vendor
 103 in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third
 104 parties;</li>
 105
 106 <li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
 107 vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all
 108 parties.</li>
 109
 110 </ol>
 111
 112 </blockquote>
 113
 114 <p>A long time ago, SUN Microsystems, now bought by Oracle, created
 115 its
 116 <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Open%20Standard%20Definition.pdf">Open
 117 Standards Checklist</a> with a fairly detailed description.</p>
 118
 119 <blockquote>
 120 <p>Creation and Management of an Open Standard
 121
 122 <ul>
 123
 124 <li>Its development and management process must be collaborative and
 125 democratic:
 126
 127          <ul>
 128          <li>Participation must be accessible to all those who wish to participate
 129             and can meet fair and reasonable criteria imposed by the
 130             organization under which it is developed and managed.
 131          <li>The processes must be documented and, through a known method,
 132             can be changed through input from all participants.
 133          <li>The process must be based on formal and binding commitments for
 134             the disclosure and licensing of intellectual property rights.
 135          <li>Development and management should strive for consensus, and an
 136             appeals process must be clearly outlined.
 137          <li>The standard specification must be open to extensive public review
 138             at least once in its life-cycle, with comments duly discussed and
 139             acted upon, if required.
 140          </ul>
 141
 142 </li>
 143
 144 </ul>
 145
 146 <p>Use and Licensing of an Open Standard</p>
 147 <ul>
 148 <li>The standard must describe an interface, not an implementation, and the
 149   industry must be capable of creating multiple, competing implementations to
 150   the interface described in the standard without undue or restrictive constraints.
 151   Interfaces include APIs, protocols, schemas, data formats and their encoding.
 152 <li> The standard must not contain any proprietary "hooks" that create a technical
 153   or economic barriers
 154 <li>Faithful implementations of the standard must interoperate. Interoperability
 155   means the ability of a computer program to communicate and exchange
 156   information with other computer programs and mutually to use the information
 157   which has been exchanged. This includes the ability to use, convert, or
 158   exchange file formats, protocols, schemas, interface information or
 159   conventions, so as to permit the computer program to work with other
 160   computer programs and users in all the ways in which they are intended to
 161   function.
 162 <li>It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and read the standard for
 163   a nominal fee, or even no fee. If there is a fee, it must be low enough to not
 164   preclude widespread use.
 165 <li>It must be possible for anyone to obtain free (no royalties or fees; also known
 166   as "royalty free"), worldwide, non-exclusive and perpetual licenses to all
 167   essential patent claims to make, use and sell products based on the standard.
 168   The only exceptions are terminations per the reciprocity and defensive
 169   suspension terms outlined below. Essential patent claims include pending,
 170   unpublished patents, published patents, and patent applications. The license
 171   is only for the exact scope of the standard in question.
 172       <ul>
 173       <li> May be conditioned only on reciprocal licenses to any of licensees'
 174       patent claims essential to practice that standard (also known as a
 175       reciprocity clause)
 176       <li> May be terminated as to any licensee who sues the licensor or any
 177          other
 178       licensee for infringement of patent claims essential to practice that
 179       standard (also known as a "defensive suspension" clause)
 180       <li> The same licensing terms are available to every potential licensor
 181       </ul>
 182 <li>The licensing terms of an open standards must not preclude implementations
 183   of that standard under open source licensing terms or restricted licensing
 184   terms
 185 </ul>
 186
 187 </blockquote>
 188
 189 <p>It is said that one of the nice things about standards is that
 190 there are so many of them.  As you can see, the same holds true for
 191 open standard definitions.  Most of the definitions have a lot in
 192 common, and it is not really controversial what properties a open
 193 standard should have, but the diversity of definitions have made it
 194 possible for those that want to avoid a level marked field and real
 195 competition to downplay the significance of open standards.  I hope we
 196 can turn this tide by focusing on the advantages of Free and Open
 197 Standards.</p>