Computer Standards
When people think of a product or service being "standard", several adjectives may come to mind. The product or service must be: uniform, consistent, unchanging, and going to remain the same for a very long time, if not indefinitely. The technical definition states, "An acknowledged measure of comparison for quantitative or qualitative value." People have grown to expect things in their daily life to be standard. Amazingly enough, people are accommodated more than they think.
There are so many products people take for granted, they rarely think of how much effort had to go into making them all fit into the same, nice little package. No one has to call their neighbors or friends down the block to make sure their stereo will play when they plug it into their outlet? Or when you make a trip to the office supply store to buy a new printer, you are not faced with multiple decisions on what paper size to choose. Everyone knows that paper that is 8.5 inches by 11 inches will fit in 99.9 percent of the printers on the market. Some time ago, certain groups of people had to stop and make tough decisions about which size paper would become "standard." Obviously, there were many factors going into this decision, but few people have actually stopped to think why that paper size was chosen, "In a sense, a perfect standard is absolute. To the extent that we have a choice about standards, they are not perfect. When there is no choice, we tend to forget the standard exists" (Oksala 10).
Even if we were to question why a certain standard was chosen, there are many reasons to support it. Having standards introduces simplicity, lower costs of production, and increased competition. For example,
When a standard is accepted, the marketplace is affected in some significant ways. On the downside, inertia and stagnation can set in. On the upside, there is increased competition in value-added products that conform to the standard and enhance network...
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