RE: User Interface Context

Thanks Loïc.  I am very pleased to see this ISO definition of product.  The specific definition is new to me, and it seems to fit our use case quite well.


From: Loïc Martínez Normand [mailto:loic@fi.upm.es]
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2012 7:09 PM
To: Bailey, Bruce
Cc: Gregg Vanderheiden; Hoffman, Allen; Andi Snow-Weaver; public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org
Subject: Re: User Interface Context

Dear Bruce, dear all,

Please let me tell you all that I'm really sorry of not having being able to participate in today's debate. It has been an interesting "night reading" for me. Gregg has made a very good work at explaining our approach in the definition of "user interface context" so there is not much I can add.

There is one thing that I think that I can provide some additional information, and it is about the "product" concept. When we (Gregg, Mike and I) agreed to use "product" it was the concept as defined in ISO 9000 "Quality management systems -- Fundamentals and vocabulary" (and as also used in ISO/IEC 17000 "Conformity assessment -- Vocabulary and general principles"

The definition is:

product: result of a process
[ISO 9000:2000, 3.4.2]

In ISO/IEC 17000 there is a note that explains that there are four types of products:

NOTE 1 Four generic product categories are noted in ISO 9000:2000: services (e.g. transport); software (e.g. computer program, dictionary); hardware (e.g. engine, mechanical part); processed materials (e.g. lubricant). Many products comprise elements belonging to different generic product categories. Whether the product is then called service, software, hardware or processed material depends on the dominant element.

So that means that we can have products (results of a process) that belong to the category "software". And this makes perfect sense, as software is the result of a software development process, isn't it?

And, in addition, this definition of product is unrelated to the fact of whether or not it is a commercial product or an "in-house" product.

Best regards,
Loïc