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From: lamaster@pioneer.arpa (Hugh LaMaster)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.misc
Subject: Re: On the TCP/IP versus ISO "debate"
Message-ID: <1869@ames.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Jun-87 19:44:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: ames.1869
Posted: Mon Jun 22 19:44:20 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 23-Jun-87 06:37:57 EDT
References: <8706111658.AA14605@ames-nas.arpa> <1744@ames.UUCP> <1712@munnari.oz>
Sender: usenet@ames.UUCP
Reply-To: lamaster@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Hugh LaMaster)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Lines: 63

In article <1712@munnari.oz> kre@munnari.oz (Robert Elz) writes:

>In article <1744@ames.UUCP>, lamaster@pioneer.arpa (Hugh LaMaster) writes:
>> ISO is the International Standards Organization.
>
>No its not.
>
>ISO is the "International Organization for Standardisation"
>

I stand corrected.  What is worse, I have made this mistake several times
before.  However, I don't think it is very important.  The meaning
(semantically speaking) is IDENTICAL.


>Understanding this fine point is *crucial* to understanding ISO,
>and the way the OSI protocols have been developed.

It DOES make sense for an international organization to use multiple languages
because it shows that the organization is not NECESSARILY biased towards the
interest of one particular organization or country.  It does not mean that the
process of standardization with respect to some particular set of standards is
"fair to everyone".  Furthermore, what did ISO care about being "fair" when it
adopted wholesale CCITT protocols that don't fit the OSI model and aren't
interoperable with other protocols in the suite?  I'm not saying ISO or
politics are bad.  I'm saying ISO is political and politics isn't "fair".

>
>OSI *cannot* be the International Standards Oriagnzation, because
>that would make it an acronym in English, but not in French, Russian,
>German, Japanese, ...

I am a chess player.  The international organization which handles master
level chess and above is FIDE which stands for something in French, but
nothing in English.  That doesn't bother me at all.  What bothers me is that
I'm not a grandmaster :-(

>
>International politics simply won't allow this kind of bias, all things
>must be equal, and fair to everyone, and seen to be.
>

What does ISO stand for in Tagalog or Bahasa Indonesia or (Polynesian) Fijian?
I guess ISO isn't fair to native speakers of these languages then, is it?

Personally, I would be perfectly happy to learn Esperanto or some other
synthetic belongs-to-no-one language for international use (and even usenet
use :-)   ); now THAT would be FAIR.  Unfortunately, the owners of English,
French, Russian, (Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, ??? I forget) and the other
"official" languages of the U.N. (That is United Nations in English) didn't
want to either use Esperanto or support the development of a new language for
international use.  But then, maybe we should be happy we don't have an UN
designed language.  It would probably be layered, and come in several mutually
incompatible subsets.  We might not even be interoperable ;-)


  Hugh LaMaster, m/s 233-9,  UUCP {seismo,topaz,lll-crg,ucbvax}!
  NASA Ames Research Center                ames!pioneer!lamaster
  Moffett Field, CA 94035    ARPA lamaster@ames-pioneer.arpa
  Phone:  (415)694-6117      ARPA lamaster@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov

("Any opinions expressed herein are solely the responsibility of the
author and do not represent the opinions of NASA or the U.S. Government")