105 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
105 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
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<title>FSFE - Open Standards - Definition</title>
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</head>
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<p id="category"><a href="http://www.fsfe.org/projects/work.html">Our Work</a> / <a href="/projects/os/os.html">Overview of Open Standards</a></p>
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<h1>Open Standards</h1>
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<div id="introduction">
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<p>There is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes
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an Open Standard and no shortage of proposals. Links to some of
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them have been included below. </p>
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</div>
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<p>FSFE did not want to propose yet another definition. We decided
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to go with the definition of an Open Standard that was developed
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as part of the preparations
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for <a href="http://www.certifiedopen.com">Certified
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Open</a>. Work on this definition began before FSFE's involvement
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on the project and was initially based on the definition in
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the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7728.html">European
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Interoperability Framework (EIF)</a> of the European
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Commission.</p>
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<p>In a dialog involving various key players in industry, politics
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and community, the definition was reworked into a definition of
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five points that found consensus among all the involved. The
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definition has subsequently been adopted by
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the <a href="http://selfproject.eu/OSD">SELF EU Project</a>, the
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2008 Geneva
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<a href="http://www.openforumeurope.org/library/geneva/declaration/manifesto-with-logos-final.pdf">Declaration
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on Standards and the Future of the Internet</a> or
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the <a href="http://documentfreedom.org/os.html">Document
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Freedom Day</a>.</p>
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<h2>Definition</h2>
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<p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
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<ol>
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<li>subject to full public assessment and use without
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constraints in a manner equally available to all parties;</li>
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<li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies
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on formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an
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Open Standard themselves;</li>
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<li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its
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utilisation by any party or in any business model;</li>
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<li>managed and further developed independently of any single
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vendor in a process open to the equal participation of
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competitors and third parties;</li>
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<li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
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vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to
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all parties.</li>
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</ol>
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<h3>Comment on Emerging Standards</h3>
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<p>When a new format or protocol is under development, clause 5
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cannot possibly be met. FSFE believes this is the correct
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behaviour in cases where technological maturity is required. In
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several scenarios, e.g. governmental deployment, the cost of
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failure can be very high.</p>
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<p>In scenarios that seek to promote the growth of Open Standards,
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strict application of the clause could prevent new Open
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Standards. From the view of the definition, such standards would
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compete directly against vendor-driven proprietary formats. In
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such cases, it can make sense to allow failure of clause 5 for
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"Emerging Standards."</p>
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<p>Which treatment such "Emerging Standards" receive is largely
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dependent on the situation. Where cost of failure is high, only
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fully Open Standards should be used. Where promotion of Open
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Standards is wanted, Emerging Standards should receive special promotion.</p>
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<p>Generally speaking: Open Standards are better than Emerging
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Standards and Emerging Standards are better than vendor-specific
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formats. The closer a format comes to meeting all points of the
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definition, the higher it should be ranked in scenarios where
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interoperability and reliable long-term data storage is
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essential.</p>
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<h3>Links to other definitions</h3>
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<p>Wikipedia has an overview of the term <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard">Open Standard</a> and various definitions. The following is a sample of some definitions:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7728.html">European Interoperability Framework</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.ft.dk/Samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/index.htm">Motion B 103 of the Danish Parliament</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://perens.com/OpenStandards/Definition.html">Open Standards - Principles and Practice</a> by Bruce Perens</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">Open Standards Definition</a> by Digistan</li>
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</ul>
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</body>
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<timestamp>$Date$ $Author$</timestamp>
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</html>
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