Phill,
If there were in addition some standard non disclosure contracts, standard contracts for holding pre-standards meeting and the like the result could be turned into a book which most managers in the valley would probably end up buying.
Most of them, and those in Armonk that I used to work for, bought Section 10 of RFC 2026 and its successors. Certainly, open source was less of a factor when that regime was designed, but Linux still supports TCP/IP as far as I know. So I think the experimental evidence supports the arguments you're hearing from me, Ted and others.
Don't confuse that with a liking for standards encumbered by patents with expensive licensing conditions. It's simply a matter of finding a pragmatic compromise in a world where software patents are granted, and often upheld by the courts, so that the goal of 100% unencumbered standards is unrealistic.
Brian _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf