1996-04-13 - Re: Protocols at the Point of a Gun

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From: frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz)
To: jsw@netscape.com
Message Hash: 7a65632128aceb60f355cdb4834eece4a1eb5faa4c1c924831faac9b0482bc79
Message ID: <199604111853.LAA24648@netcom9.netcom.com>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1996-04-13 16:35:37 UTC
Raw Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 00:35:37 +0800

Raw message

From: frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz)
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 00:35:37 +0800
To: jsw@netscape.com
Subject: Re: Protocols at the Point of a Gun
Message-ID: <199604111853.LAA24648@netcom9.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 11:50 PM 4/10/96 -0700, Jeff Weinstein wrote:
>  Given that the IETF has no "official" (whatever that means) sanction,
>what would prevent any other organization from coming in and trying to
>take over their turf?  ...

It seems to me that this question represents a classic case of the costs of
market entry.  IETF has a pretty good reputation as a standards body.  If
another body were to take over its function, they would have to have
superior reputation in the relevant market (i.e. IP protocol suite
implementors and their customers).

Superior reputation could come from:

(1) Better response to proposals.  (Hard to imagine in the current 
    climate.)
(2) Government coercion.  (We will throw you in jail if you don't ...)
(3) Government coercion.  (We won't buy equipment that doesn't meet x 
    standard.)
(4) Large User coercion.  (We won't buy equipment that doesn't meet x 
    standard.  Probably no user is currently big enough to force 
    standards in this way, not even Microsoft.)

Regards - Bill


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