At 11:50 PM 4/10/96 -0700, Jeff Weinstein wrote:

Given that the IETF has no "official" (whatever that means) sanction, what would prevent any other organization from coming in and trying to take over their turf? ...

It seems to me that this question represents a classic case of the costs of market entry. IETF has a pretty good reputation as a standards body. If another body were to take over its function, they would have to have superior reputation in the relevant market (i.e. IP protocol suite implementors and their customers). Superior reputation could come from: (1) Better response to proposals. (Hard to imagine in the current climate.) (2) Government coercion. (We will throw you in jail if you don't ...) (3) Government coercion. (We won't buy equipment that doesn't meet x standard.) (4) Large User coercion. (We won't buy equipment that doesn't meet x standard. Probably no user is currently big enough to force standards in this way, not even Microsoft.) Regards - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA