what are the real problems

[Keith Moore]

> >> terminating credible efforts prematurely is silly.
> KM> so is spreading ourselves too thin.
> 
> ahh,  right.
> 
> that was the argument for not doing xmpp.
> 
> better to worry about multiple efforts, each of which has serious
> support, than it is to worry about unproductive efforts that drag on for
> years.

I think I'd agree that if you have fundamental differences that you cannot
resolve, sometimes it's better to have multiple competing efforts than to
either give up entirely or try to force everyone to work together --
especially if the efforts are trying to solve different (though overlapping)
problems.  And there might be some potential for merging at a later time as
the problems become better understood.

But if the groups aren't really trying to solve different problems,  would IETF
really be serving the Internet community by promoting non-interoperable solutions?