IETF mission (RE: pausable explanation for the Document Series)

[Dave Crocker]

Eric,


ER> Most people  on this list seem  to think that there  is a value in having a
ER> category  of  "standard"  which  means  something  more  than  "multi-vendor
ER> interoperable."

It occurs to me that you may have backed into exactly the real
disparity.

Historically, the goal of IETF work was to produce specifications that
were KNOWN to be interoperable.

In recent years, we stopped worrying about the reality of
interoperability and settled for "looks goods after a static review of
the document". And we let the rest of the world decide what to do with
the document after that.

So, for one thing, we have stopped very seriously worrying about running
code, or actual use, or any such mundane concern.

(and no, that's not an absolute, but I believe it does characterize the
change in IETF culture.)

d/
--
 Dave Crocker <mailto:dcrocker at brandenburg.com>
 Brandenburg InternetWorking <http://www.brandenburg.com>
 Sunnyvale, CA  USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>, <fax:+1.866.358.5301>