Re: Why is IETF hostile to reusable technologies?

Jim-
You get the star from the content cowboys.
Michael
At 12:45 PM 11/28/2001, jg@pa.dec.com wrote:
>You missed at least one:
>
>6. Many of us old-farts are strong, opinioned know-it-alls who think that
>what we've done applies to everything, and that if the other guy just
>understood things as well as we did, they'd do it our way, whether it
>be X, or MIME, or HTTP, or (fill in you favorite protocol you are expert
>at here)....  It is a rare bird who has dealt with more than one application
>protocol in detail, much less one built for a relatively wide range of
>applications to use.
>
>(I say this only half tounge in cheek, and that I carefully put myself
>into this catagory, though I note that IETF developed apps protocols are
>typically for one vertical application (or codification of outside effort),
>and not a generic protocol framework).
>
>The young guys with a problem don't necessarily get heard, unless your
>job is to listen to lots of different people building applications.
>And those people don't go to the IETF right now.
>
>More seriously is to elaborate your .4: to build such a protocol framework,
>you need participation (at least at some level) horizonally across the
>IETF, when it is vertically organized.
>
>And I think development of a protocol framework would need to be mostly
>outside the IETF until a pretty concrete prototype and running code had
>been produced, to avoid the other problems you note.  Arguably, this is
>already happening, in the XML community.  But as things are currently
>running, it will be too late for the IETF to influence the outcome,
>as far as I can tell.
>
>                         - Jim
>
>--
>Jim Gettys
>Cambridge Research Laboratory
>Compaq Computer Corporation
>jg@pa.dec.com

Michael W. Condry
Director,  Network Edge Technology

Received on Wednesday, 28 November 2001 16:03:13 UTC