Subject: "Let the market decide" doesn't work for "draft standard"

From: "Larry Masinter" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 15:10:09 -0800

Using one MIME type or another is a feature. The Draft
Standard should only have options that there are qualified
multiple independent interoperable implementations.

So if there's an option to use image/tiff-fx with
profile S and F, there should be two independent writers
and two independent readers that use this option, and
the implementations need to meet the requirements of
RFC 2026.

If you are doing a "Proposed Standard" you can speculate
on what you think people might want to implement at some
time in the future, but to advanced to Draft Standard,
there should actually be implementations.

It isn't adequate to just imagine that someone could
possibly build an implementation in the future, there
should be people who are willing to take the time to
actually create implementations and demonstrate their
interoperability.