What Are Your Standards?

Presents the author's views on the process and implications of standardization in the computer industry. Discussion of the process of standardization from the point of view of a professional individual; Discussion on the procedure, criteria, and settings of evaluating standards; Significance of the ability to use computers efficiently and economically from the perspective of national interest; Views of environmentalist J.A. Haddad on the need for insight into the so-called "ecology of standards"; Arguments against the desire of professionals for freedom to explore innovative solutions to their tasks without being forced to use standards; Role that the Association for Computing Machinery's Standards Committee has played for standardization in the concerned field.