On Monday, April 15, 2002, at 10:34 PM, Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote: > [...] I'd like to hear the IETF community's input on the topic. [...] This is a matter of politics, philosophy and economics (PPE). Asking engineers to comment on such things is nice-- we're so often left out of such discussions. Here's what I think: asking this question is like asking, "how many units of currency and instruments of payment does the world need?" The answer depends on your theories of PPE. If I could measure the "sovereignty" of the IETF as a political organization, I'd say it's a function of 1) the value of the networks defined by the standard protocols it has produced to the present, and 2) the forecasted increase in value derived from the standards the world expects it will produce in the future. > The obvious (but meaningless) answer is "as many as needed". Please allow me to speculate that what the Chair meant to say was "as many or as few as will serve to optimize the present and future value of the Internet." The more interesting question is whether the IETF process is well suited to finding the right number of standards or protocols for any given purpose. On *that* subject, I will demure to wiser and older hands than myself. For now, anyway. -- j h woodyatt <jhw@wetware.com>