Open standard

Open Standards are publicly avalable specifications for intercommunication[?] between various hardware and software components. Open standards allow anybody with the technical know-how and the necessary equipment to implemnet solutions which work together with those of other vendors.

Examples of Open Standards

Hardware:

• ISA
• PCI
• AGP

Software:

• SQL
• IP
• TCP

Reciently there has been some controversy about using Reasonable And Non-Discriminitory (RAND) licencing for the use of patented technology in Web Standards. Bruce Perens and others have argued that the use of patents restricts who can implement a standard to those able or willing to pay for the use of the patented technology. The requirement to pay some small amount per user, is often an insurmountable problem for Free Software or Open Source implementations which can be redistributed by anyone.