Standards

Standards

1. Standards are needed to build programs and software that work on different systems.

2. Standards can be de jure or de facto.

   • De Jure
     • De jure standards are those which have been approved by formal authorities like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
   • De Facto
     • De facto standards are those which have been accepted as the best standard for their purpose.

3. Proprietary standards

   • Standards can be either proprietary or open.
     • Proprietary Standard
       • These are designed, created, maintained and controlled by a licence agreement which is owned by an organisation or individual, ie privately owned.
       • Proprietary standards may be free to use, but the file specification is often closed rather than being open.
     • Open Standard
       • Open standards are usually controlled by a Creative Commons licence or they are unlicensed.
       • They can be used by anyone and are not owned by a commercial organisation or individual.
       • They will have been developed by experts collaborating online.

4. Compatibility

   • This means that different types of files, software or hardware are able to work together