Book Preview: Information technology standards: quest for the common byte, by Martin Libicki

Abstract

Cities catches the essence of Martin Libicki's book, where he demonstrates rather convincingly that continuing upheaval in information technology is, and will remain, " standard " fare. The underlying message revolves around a paradox that is central to the in-dustry's providers—the impulse to achieve common-ality is unquenchable, but the drive to innovate and achieve a proprietary franchise is just as strong. The constant dynamic between these two is the story of standards efforts, and the history that Libicki's survey describes. What are these things called standards? Simply speaking, an IT standard is an attempt to define some component of an information technology system in such a way that many users can use that component on offerings from multiple vendors and multiple sources to do something they want to have done. The rub, of course, is that there is no concurrence on what this definition means. To compound the problem , there is growing and increasingly acrimonious debate about what the nature and purpose of standards and standardization efforts really are. Should standards be driven by the end-users, by the designers , by the vendors of IT product, or by transient combinations of all three? Libicki introduces an interesting point when he analogizes standards with a common language. This goes to the core of the drive behind standards—it is a means to let users and their IT creations communicate meaningfully with each other. This is a truly laudable, ecumenical goal. Why would anyone oppose it? As Libicki describes it, however, not only do organizations and individuals oppose it, they do so for many reasons, nearly all of which are rooted in the tension mentioned earlier: the need for standardization and the drive for a proprietary franchise. Here is the heart of Libicki's book, which can be seen as a travelogue through the world of standardization efforts. This is a story so complex that it defies a simple analysis. In standardization every activity seems, somehow, to be part of an interwoven whole. This may be this book's greatest strength— that it tells a story and describes the processes of a number of standards efforts, from Ada to VHDL. Rather than attempt the futile task of a strict definition of IT standards, their processes, and effects, Li-bicki's survey defines by description and example. This approach avoids most of the arcane and endless discussions about definitions that seem to consume inordinate time and effort …