QuickLinks - Standards

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Issue no. 165 - 22 July 2000

• IE 5.5 angers Web standards advocates (CNET News.com)
  Microsoft came under fire from Web standards advocates over its latest browser, which lets Web developers offer their visitors fairly complex applications as long as those visitors aren't using Netscape.

• New Wireless Coalition Raises IEEE Ire (EE Times)
  The Broadband Wireless Internet Forum has become ground zero for a heated debate over the IEEE's precise role in the recently formed industry coalition.

• News industry unveils NewsML Net language (infoworld.com)
  (Reuters)
  The world's news industry looks set to start using a new online computer language after it agreed on a standard for formatting electronic content, called NewsML.

Issue no. 164 - 15 July 2000

• Industry Leaders Set Broadband Wireless Guidelines (Newsbytes)
  Industry leaders unveiled technical agreements that set spectrum management guidelines to accelerate development of wireless broadband networks.

Issue no. 163 - 9 July 2000

• Three South Korean Phone Firms choose European Standard (nytimes.com/thestreet.com)
  The three largest mobile phone operators in South Korea have decided to use the wide-band code division multiple access, or W-CDMA standard developed by Nokia and Ericsson when they are granted licenses to offer high-speed Internet access.

• U.S., Europe to Unite on Web Traffic Standards (The Industry Standard)
  The U.S. and European online audience measurement committees of the Future of Advertising Stakeholders (FAST) will join forces to establish standards for the measurement of site audiences.

Issue no. 160 - 17 June 2000

• AOL releases its version of IM standards (CNET News.com)
  America Online has proposed instant messaging standards that would clear the way for rival services to work together. The submission came on the final day for companies to hand their proposals for open instant messaging standards to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the industry's standards body. see also Odigo, AOL Fight Over Instant-Messaging Connections (CNET News.com).

• Forum takes closer step to inter-standard mobile roaming (Total Telecom)
  The GSM Association's Global Roaming Forum met in London to step up the pace of progress towards inter-standard mobile roaming, and its chairman put the pressure on handset manufacturers to deliver multimode handsets.

Issue no. 159 - 11 June 2000

• Battle over Digital TV standards goes global (EE Times)
  Two standards groups, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), have set fall deadlines to sort out the thorny, entangled issues of production and API schemes for digital television architectures.

• Govt. Asked For Open Standards On Instant Messaging (Newsbytes)
  In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 43 technology and instant-messaging companies asked the government to advocate open standards and interoperability in instant messaging.

Issue no. 155 - 14 May 2000

• Microsoft's Kerberos Shuck and Jive (The Industry Standard)
  Slammed in a court brief for the proprietary way it implements the Kerberos Web security standard in Windows 2000, Microsoft has moved to reassure customers and disarm critics by publishing the formerly secret details of its version of Kerberos, but Microsoft has attached licensing restrictions to the site where the details are published, essentially locking down the information as a confidential "trade secret." see also Kerberos, PACs And Microsoft's Dirty Tricks and Microsoft Asks Slashdot To Remove Readers' Posts (Slashdot).

Issue no. 153 - 1 May 2000

• AOL rival asks FCC action on IM (PC Week)
  Tribal Voice Inc. filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission urging it to push America Online to open its AOL Instant Messenger client to outside IM providers before its merger with Time Warner Inc. is approved.

Issue no. 152 - 15 April 2000

• M-commerce alliance formed (FT)
  Nokia of Finland, Motorola of the US and Ericsson of Sweden are planning a world m-commerce standard that would allow safe credit card payments using mobile phones.

Issue no. 151 - 8 April 2000

• Nortel leads Internet standards body (Reuters)
  Nortel Networks and more than 30 Internet infrastructure, content and service providers are banding together to find ways to improve delivery of content over the Web.

Issue no. 148 - 18 March 2000

• RealNetworks Listens to MS (Wired)
  RealNetworks has licensed Microsoft's Windows Media software development kit to enable its users to listen to content stored in Microsoft's competing format. Microsoft also announced that portal Yahoo is licensing the Windows Media audio technology, which has been jockeying with RealNetworks to become the de facto standard for streaming and downloading music and information.

Issue no. 146 - 4 March 2000

• AOL instant messenger war continues (CNET News.com)
  America Online was accused of blocking entertainment start-up iCast from tapping into its AOL Instant Messenger service.

• Sun slammed by global body over Java (Sm@rt Reseller)
  The Geneva-based standards organization ECMA has issued a scathing denunciation of Sun Microsystems for pulling Java off the standardization track.

Issue no. 143 - 12 February 2000

• USA - F.C.C. Denies Request to Modify Digital TV Standard (New York Times)
  By a 5-0 vote, the Federal Communications Commission denied a petition from the Sinclair Broadcast Group asking the commission to modify the nation's digital television standard so that stations could choose to use a transmission technology that is being used in Europe and that had shown that it worked better in many circumstances.

Issue no. 140 - 22 January 2000

• Geoworks to get rich on WAP licenses (ZDNet)
  Wireless communications company Geoworks has announced that it owns Intellectual Property (IP) rights to parts of the international WAP forum and will begin collecting licensing fees from manufacturers of WAP compatible devices.

• Sun gives away PKI security sourcecode (vnunet.com)
  The Sun-Netscape Alliance said it will kick start the use of digital certifications among ecommerce sites by giving away its public key infrastructure (PKI) library sourcecode.

Issue no. 137 - 18 December 1999

• Consortium proposes Net acceleration standard (The Register)
  Web content delivery acceleration specialist Akamai and a consortium of fellow Internet companies have proposed a standard mechanism to bring Net services closer to the user.

Issue no. 136 - 12 December 1999

• AOL Disrupts ATT Messg (Newsbytes)
  An upgraded instant messaging service from Internet service provider AT&T WorldNet barely got off the ground before its users found they were blocked from communicating with contacts who are using America Online Instant Messenger. see also AOL, Tribal Voice exchange messaging blows (CNET News.com).

• Sun abandons bid for Java as computing standard (FT)
  Sun Microsystems has abandoned its efforts to have the Java computer language accepted as an international standard, following months of wrangling with industry rivals.

• W3C and WAP Forum team up on wireless Web specs (ZDNet)
  Organisations will work together to incorporate WAP Forum's Wireless Markup Language (WML) into W3C's next generation Internet markup language.

Issue no. 135 - 5 December 1999

• Sun misses Java standard deadline (CNET News.com)
  Sun Microsystems' effort to foster an industry consensus on its Java software is faltering for the second time this year.

• Microsoft Submits XML Standard (InformationWeek)
  Microsoft has submitted a network protocol for XML communication between Windows and non-Microsoft systems to the Internet Engineering Task Force.

Issue no. 134 - 27 November 1999

• Despite Agreement, Snags Remain for Digital TV (New York Times)
  The cable television and consumer electronics industries say they have finally solved a problem that has lingered for more than 18 months as a serious impediment to digital TV.

Issue no. 133 - 18 November 1999

• Microsoft Abandons Instant-Messaging Fight (Reuters)
  Microsoft conceded defeat in a high-profile instant-messaging battle with rival America Online, saying that to continue the fight would leave users open to a serious security risk. Microsoft, AOL in instant messaging huddle

Issue no. 132 - 11 November 1999

• DVB Multimedia Home Platform Decision Unanimous (Press Release)
  The DVB Steering Board approved the principles for the incorporation of existing software technologies into the DVB-MHP specification. "This is one of the most important developments in DVB to date, and presents a significant milestone on the way to finalising the Multimedia Home Platform Project. DVB is delivering on its promise to create the systems, which will facilitate convergence between the Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Computing technologies." see also ZDF begrüßt Einigung über Multimediastandard beim Digital-Fernsehen (dpa)

Issue no. 131 - 4 November 1999

• 2G Detente Builds on 3G Friendship (Total Telecom)
  Roaming compatibility between GSM and TDMA networks could be a little closer thanks to further detente between the GSM Association and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium.

• ABA releases regulatory policy for datacasting trial (Press Release)
  The Australian Broadcasting Authority has released the regulatory policy for the conduct of test transmissions of digital datacasting services.

• Wireless Net Standard Closer (Newsbytes)
  Cisco Systems has announced it is teaming with a group of third party companies to develop a broadband wireless standard for access to the Internet. see also New Alliance Will Promote Wireless Access to Internet (New York Times)

Issue no. 129 - 16 October 1999

• Microsoft, AOL in instant messaging huddle (ZDNet)
  After months of an intense game of cat-and-mouse, where America Online continually blocked Microsoft's attempts to link MSN Messenger users with AOL Instant Messenger users, Microsoft and America Online are now participating in an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working group to design an instant messaging and presence protocol (IMPP). see also collection of articles on instant messaging (ZDNN) and Motorola, AOL Forge Net Link (Washington Post).

Issue no. 128 - 28 September 1999

• Standards Row Threatens EU Tetra Contracts (CommunicationsWeek International)
  The European Commission has claimed that the United Kingdom has breached EU public procurement directives by insisting that companies bidding for a contract for police radio communications used a specific standard, TETRA, thus precluding bidders from offering an "equivalent" solution.

Issue no. 127 - 20 September 1999

• Microsoft shunned by Digital Broadcasting Group (IT-Analysis.com)
  Microsoft received one in the eye from the Digital Video Broadcasting Group as it announced that it would use Java as the underlying technology for its digital broadcasting standard, instead of Windows CE.

• Names, Numbers and Networks ()
  Metadata, Intellectual Property and E-Commerce - the Way Ahead, 15 November 1999, Washington DC. Organised by (interoperability of data in e-commerce systems) an Info2000 project, supported by the European Commission DGXIII, an international initiative of rights owners creating metadata standards for e-commerce. The conference is formally co-sponsored by the US Copyright Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office and is financially supported by Muze Inc.

• Java Drills Deeper Into European DTV (EE Times)
  Java made its digital TV debut in Europe, as key consumer vendors demonstrated Java digital broadcast applications over Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) set-tops. MHP is a set of common APIs designed to create an operating system-independent, level playing field for broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers. The goal is to provide all DVB-based terminals --set-tops, TV, and multimedia PCs -- full access to programs and services built on the DVB Java (DVB-J) platform.

Issue no. 126 - 8 September 1999

• AOL says to block Tribal Voice messaging users (CNET News.com)
  Just as it moved against Microsoft, America Online will block an instant messaging service developed by software company Tribal Voice from communicating with AOL users. The statement came the same day that Freeserve, a British free ISP which competes with AOL, announced it has licensed Tribal Voice's Powwow instant messenger software.

• Group rejects standard Web data plan (AP)
  A computer industry group standards-setting group, called RosettaNet, launched to harness the XML software language has rejected a proposed version of the standard over concerns it skewed toward U.S. companies and will prevent European companies from participating.

Issue no. 125 - 3 August 1999

• Instant messaging battle continues to simmer (ZDNet)
  In the latest maneuver in America Online's messaging conflict with Microsoft, AOL has yet again blocked Microsoft's competing messaging application. see also AOL convenes instant messaging advisory body (Bloomberg News), Microsoft Trumpets MSN Messenger Downloads (TechWeb), Open-source leader backs Microsoft in AOL dispute (Sm@rt Reseller), Microsoft Asks AOL To Stop Blocking Messages (Reuters), A Showdown on Messaging May Unite Web Users and Instant Messaging and Other 'Sticky' Issues (New York Times).

Issue no. 124 - 28 July 1999

• AOL vs Microsoft and Yahoo!: bitter controversy over instant messaging (Reuters)
  America Online might back off efforts to block rival "instant messaging" services because the actions threaten to undermine its lobbying push to get access to high-speed cable Internet lines. Over the past few days, engineers at the No. 1 online service worked diligently to thwart efforts by Microsoft and Yahoo! to allow consumers using their messaging products to connect with AOL customers and accounts. see also Game of cat and mouse continues between AOL and Microsoft CNET News.com), AOL blasts MS instant message service and AOL vows to keep blocking MS (ZDNN), Positions Harden in Instant-Message Fight (New York Times). San Francisco Lets AT&T Bar Cable Access to Rivals

• IETF, ITU Enter New Era Of Cooperation (ZDNet)
  Two of the most influential standards bodies in the communications industry appear to be forging new bonds of cooperation. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) this month took steps designed to bring the camps closer together. * Inter@ctive Week

• Rival home-networking groups ratify new specs (Electronic Buyers' News)
  Two competing home-networking consortia, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (BSIG) and the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA), separately announced new communications specifications for home-networking protocols.

Issue no. 123 - 21 July 1999

• Consortium releases secure music spec (ZDNet)
  The music industry took its first step toward securing control over unchecked copying of digital music. The Secure Digital Music Initiative or SDMI -- a consortium of more than 110 companies from the music and computer industries -- released the initial version of its requirements for portable digital music players. see also Standards Are Set for Thwarting Music Pirates (New York Times).

• Radio industry vents fury at 'farcical' rules (Electronics Weekly)
  Manufacturers of short-range radio systems fear that the proposed self-certification of telecoms and radio products will lead to a deluge of inferior products on to the market from overseas suppliers if the new scheme is not policed properly.

Issue no. 122 - 7 July 1999

• ITU Ratifies Full Range Of ADSL Technologies (Newsbytes)
  The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has formally ratified all ADSL speeds and standards.

• Standards Body Nears Accord on 3G Mobile (Total Telecom)
  The standards tangle hampering the development of third generation (3G) mobile, is set to be unknotted a little. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) - a group formed by GSM-supporting standards bodies - will meet with the intention of bringing its specifications for 3G mobile standards in line with the proposal drawn up by the Operators Harmonization Group.

• EU - Call for expressions of interest (European Commission)
  The European Commission is setting up an advisory panel on Information Society standardisation initiatives. The panel should include representatives of industrial users, the public interest, academia and consumers. Expertise is sought in the following areas: technological expertise as regards IT and related technologies; legal expertise related to standardisation, intellectual property rights, competition rules and anti-trust regulations; socio-economic expertise; and consumer protection and representation of public interest, in particular regarding accessibility, security, data protection and privacy. The closing date is 5 August 1999.

Issue no. 121 - 25 June 1999

• DSL modem standard gets final approval (CNET News.com)
  The International Telecommunications Union gave final approval the G.lite standard, a lower-speed DSL technology aimed at the mass-market consumer.

• Rivals agree on Web buying standard (ZDNet)
  Filling out forms on e-commerce sites could get a little easier, thanks to an agreement by a group of major tech companies on a single standard for electronic wallets, the Electronic Commerce Modeling Language (ECML).

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