Re: conformance vs. compliance

At 10:47 AM 8/9/02 -0400, Art.Barstow@nokia.com wrote:

>Does the QA WG consider the terms "conformance" and "compliance" 
>interchangeable?
>For example does the WG (and its tech reports) consider these two assertions
>equivalent:
>
>  1. My implementation is 100% compliant  with specification A
>  2. My implementation is 100% conformant with specification A
>
>If these assertions are not equivalent, what's the difference?

I rarely use "compliance" or "compliant", for a couple of reasons.  First, 
in my experience,  it has been abused so much in marketing claims and hype 
that I have a bias against it.  Second, I'm not sure what its definition is.

I don't think QAWG has discussed it or taken a position.  If it is 
synonymous with Conformance, then why define and use it?  I.e., there is a 
lot to be said for consistent terminology.  If it is different ... does 
anyone want to offer a definition?


>Perhaps compliance should be added to:
>
>  http://www.w3.org/QA/glossary

Are you interested to propose a definition?  (Note the invitation in the 
first paragraph of the Glossary.)

Cheers,
-Lofton.

Received on Friday, 9 August 2002 11:14:02 UTC