There's more to standards today than just specifications.
Not only Open Source projects, but all manner of non-profit collaborative projects are springing up across the Web, bringing kindred spirits together to create valuable tools for the networked world. The unique attributes of the Internet and the Web are at the heart of a revolution in cooperative creativity and value creation.
The IT economy enables a new form of non-market, non-corporate activity to exist: "networked peer production", of which Open Source software is but one example. Networked peer production makes possible the realization of an alternative, post-capitalist economic vision based on value, not profit, working alongside traditional markets and businesses.
Standards are great, and standards have problems. A new way of creating "commonalities" solves many of these problems and provides a way to create tools that never existed before.
What do diets, mutual funds, and DVD standard wars have in common? More than you'd think.
Market Filters Reject MS Sender ID; Sony Puts Billions into Standards War; Voice Standards in the News; Ericsson Abandons Bluetooth; Microsoft Wins Another Round in Eolas Dispute; Latest Web Services News; ETSI Relevant Patent Database Surpasses 12,500 Claims....and much more.