Friday, May 20, at 2005 8:54 AM Sean Dorman wrote: > The purpose of IETF is to provide documented standards and > guidelines that help guide the market, NOT the other way around. There is no agreement that this is in fact the purpose of the IETF. Historically, the IETF has engaged in two types of activities, creating technology that was perceived as much needed for the Internet, and driving consensus between implementers on specific functions. The "implementers' consensus" working groups are typically market driven. A bunch of companies or non-profit groups realize that they are working on quasi similar products, and that using an interoperable standard would be more efficient than letting the market sort out between proprietary designs. Such working groups typically have strong timing requirements. If the IETF takes too long to reach consensus, then proprietary solutions will gain market share, and the late coming IETF specification will be essentially irrelevant. Having delays because the working group cannot agree is bas enough, but it can usually be avoided by just letting several proposals progress in parallel -- a choice between two standard ways being sometimes perceived as more efficient than complete fragmentation. On the other hand, there is no excuse for delays created by bureaucratic processes and arbitrary pocket vetoes. -- Christian Huitema _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf