>...The central problem is the role of government.
>
>Government economists seem to believe that the government has some
>God-like role to oversee the economy and keep out of the way...
The standards process would make an interesting case study in participatory
government. Many people assume that Standards Australia is a federal
government agency (which it isn't).
Some governments make some standards mandatory, but in many cases standards
are enforced simply by moral force.
Disasters with standards (such as GOSIP) seem to happen when hubris combines
with legislation. Rather than codify proven practice (which is where good
standards come from), a new unproven technology is pushed via a standard and
then someone decides to make it mandatory for use.
Tom Worthington <tomw@acslink.net.au> President, Australian Computer Society,
GPO Box 446, Canberra ACT 2601 http://www.acslink.net.au/~tomw
Fax: +61 2 62496419
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ACS on Information Ministry: http://www.acs.org.au/news/alston.htm