Protocols at the Point of a Gun

[Bill Frantz]

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


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