Re: The revolution will not be standardized

[Ted Dennison <dennison@telepath.com>]

In article <38561D9A.70B61403@acenet.com.au>,
  Geoff Bull <gbull@acenet.com.au> wrote:
> But Java is standardised too.

I disagree.

> There is a language specification for the core language.

But if Sun decides tomorrow that Java now looks just like Python, who's
to stop them?

If someone makes a completely non-conformant JVM, and pays Sun a ton of
money, what's to stop Sun from declaring it a valid JVM?

If someone makes a perfectly conformant Java but Sun doesn't like them
for some other reason, what's to stop Sun from refusing to declare it a
valid Java implementation?

> The libraries are extensively documented, so that can be considered
> a standard. And of course, the JVM has a standard.

Being documented does not make something a standard. By that logic,
every commercial API in the world would be a "standard".

> Does it really matter whether they are Sun standards or ISO standards?

That's the rub. I think it matters a great deal whether a "standard" is
at the mercy of any one vendor. In fact, I think that situation is a
good answer to the question: "When is a standard *not* a standard?".

Look at it this way. Unlike ISO, Sun is not in the business of
developing and shepherding standards. Sun is in the business of selling
hardware and some software. If they have an oppertunity to muck with the
standard in a way that will help their sales or hurt a competitor's,
they *will* do it. If I happen to be that competitor, or just an
innocent bystander who also happens to get hurt, that's just too bad for
me. If you think this isn't likely to happen, just take a look at what
Microsoft has historicly done with their de-facto standards.

Now, how is someone going to accomplish the same feat with the Ada
standard?

I notice sales materials touting conformance to open standards in
products all the time. I would think the principle should a apply
equally well to languages as it does to communications protocols.

--
T.E.D.


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