110 lines
4.8 KiB
HTML
110 lines
4.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
|
|
|
|
<html>
|
|
<version>2</version>
|
|
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Open Standards - Definition</title>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
<p id="category"><a href="/activities/activities.html">Our Work</a> / <a href="/freesoftware/standards/standards.html">Overview of Open Standards</a></p>
|
|
<h1>Open Standards</h1>
|
|
|
|
<div id="introduction">
|
|
|
|
<p>Open Standards allow people to share all kinds of data freely
|
|
and with perfect fidelity. They prevent lock-in and other
|
|
artificial barriers to interoperability, and promote choice
|
|
between vendors and technology solutions. FSFE pushes for the
|
|
adoption of Open Standards to promote free competition in the IT
|
|
market, as they ensure that people find it easy to migrate to Free
|
|
Software or between Free Software solutions.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>Starting from the definition contained in the original version
|
|
of the European Commission's <a
|
|
href="https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/eif_en">European
|
|
Interoperability Framework (EIF)</a>, we engaged in a dialogue
|
|
with various key players in industry, politics and community. In
|
|
this process, the definition was reworked into a set of five
|
|
points that found consensus among all the involved. The definition
|
|
has subsequently been adopted by the SELF EU Project, the 2008
|
|
Geneva <a
|
|
href="http://www.ecis.eu/news/documents/OpenForumEuropeDeclaration.pdf">Declaration
|
|
on Standards and the Future of the Internet</a> or the <a
|
|
href="https://www.documentfreedom.org/about/openstandards">Document
|
|
Freedom Day</a>. A very similar set of <a
|
|
href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-principles/open-standards-principles">"Open
|
|
Standards Principles"</a> was adopted by the UK Government in July
|
|
2014.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Definition</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>An Open Standard refers to a format or protocol that is</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>subject to full public assessment and use without
|
|
constraints in a manner equally available to all parties;</li>
|
|
<li>without any components or extensions that have dependencies
|
|
on formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an
|
|
Open Standard themselves;</li>
|
|
<li>free from legal or technical clauses that limit its
|
|
utilisation by any party or in any business model;</li>
|
|
<li>managed and further developed independently of any single
|
|
vendor in a process open to the equal participation of
|
|
competitors and third parties;</li>
|
|
<li>available in multiple complete implementations by competing
|
|
vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to
|
|
all parties.</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Comment on Emerging Standards</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>When a new format or protocol is under development, clause 5
|
|
cannot possibly be met. FSFE believes this is the correct
|
|
behaviour in cases where technological maturity is required. In
|
|
several scenarios, e.g. governmental deployment, the cost of
|
|
failure can be very high.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>In scenarios that seek to promote the growth of Open Standards,
|
|
strict application of the clause could prevent new Open
|
|
Standards. From the view of the definition, such standards would
|
|
compete directly against vendor-driven proprietary formats. In
|
|
such cases, it can make sense to allow failure of clause 5 for
|
|
"Emerging Standards."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Which treatment such "Emerging Standards" receive is largely
|
|
dependent on the situation. Where cost of failure is high, only
|
|
fully Open Standards should be used. Where promotion of Open
|
|
Standards is wanted, Emerging Standards should receive special promotion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Generally speaking: Open Standards are better than Emerging
|
|
Standards and Emerging Standards are better than vendor-specific
|
|
formats. The closer a format comes to meeting all points of the
|
|
definition, the higher it should be ranked in scenarios where
|
|
interoperability and reliable long-term data storage is
|
|
essential.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Links to other definitions</h3>
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/eif_en">European Interoperability Framework</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.ft.dk/Samling/20051/beslutningsforslag/B103/index.htm">Motion B 103 of the Danish Parliament</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20081218213743/http://perens.com/OpenStandards/Definition.html">Open Standards - Principles and Practice</a> by Bruce Perens</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
<description>Definition of Open Standards, with comment on emerging standards and links to other definitions.</description>
|
|
|
|
</html>
|
|
<!--
|
|
Local Variables: ***
|
|
mode: xml ***
|
|
End: ***
|
|
-->
|