Open Source versus Open Standards

There is an ongoing debate about Open Standards and Open Source at Artima. I have considerable experience in both activities. I ran the very first JCP group that was completely open - JSR110 Java APIs for WSDL. We had an open mailing list, an open source reference implementation and an open source TCK. Since then I've chaired the OASIS WSRX TC and also contribute to a number of Apache projects.

For me the core difference between Open Standards and Open Source is this:

• Open Standards enable companies to compete in a structured way
• Open Source projects enable people or companies to collaborate in a structured way

What do I mean?

Many open standards groups consist of companies who are in strong competition. The aim of the standard is fundamentally to allow them to agree enough conformance to open up the market and grow the potential business through standardization. So usually the result is the minimum agreement required to create the open environment for competition. In my experience, Open Standards groups are not always effective at creating new stuff - instead they excel at tightening up already created stuff.

Open source projects are usually run by like-minded people who want to share the effort of developing code and share the results. The result is usually much more creative and expansive than Open standards.

Of course there are exceptions. I believe for example that the Web and XML standards were built in a very collobarative way. And there are open source projects where the competition between contributors becomes an issue. However, the general landscape is defined by the objectives of the participants. If the fundamental objectives of the participants are open competition, then there will be those outcomes.

So how does this relate to the JCP discussion?

When companies compete, it is in all their best interests to strongly enforce conformance. However much it might be tempting to "get away" with not implementing a strong set of conformance tests, or not having to go through that testing, the fact remains that standards are worthless without conformance, and so the effort in creating them is wasted without conformance.

So its my assertion that creating a strong set of conformance tests is in the best interests of all parties in a standards body. And I believe the best way to create those is to do it as a collaborative effort. Effectively this is the chance for the participants to get creative about competition. Try to create a test case that proves your competitors system is non-conformant. Collaborate to break each other's systems!

Hence creating the test kit should be done as an open source project. And by that I mean open development as well as open publishing of the source. If you believe in my logic you will come to the conclusion that the JCP model is still in need of revision.