>>>>> "Tom" == Tom Lord <lord@xxxxxxx> writes: Tom> All I mean is that, for higher level protocols, letting Tom> people do what they will ("the market decides") seems to me Tom> to be the best option. Yes, using your example, IM protocols Tom> fragment, interop suffers, there's lots of crap --- so what? I think our concern is that we have finite resources here in the IETF. If you want a market decides standards, go set up an industry consortium or go to a market decides standards body. The IETF works best when people bringing technologies to it buy into the idea of building rough consensus. So, if you want the market to decide, and you don't have a particularly good reason for being at the IETF, perhaps we're not the best place for you to do your work. One obvious question to ask is whether the IETF still has work to do and is still the right place for anything. My answer is simple: let the market decide;) _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf