Episode 107: Andrew Watson on the OMG

Compliance Testing

Compliance testing in standardization presents significant challenges, primarily due to its high costs and the need for substantial backing from large customers or governments. Andrew Watson emphasizes that compliance tests, rather than reference implementations, are crucial for ensuring adherence to standards 1. He notes, "Building a test suite, a comprehensive test suite to test against the specification is going to cost you millions of dollars, potentially" 2. Despite the financial burden, Watson advocates for more compliance testing to enhance interoperability and conformance across specifications.

   

Cooperation

OMG collaborates informally with other standards bodies like W3C and Oasis, despite the absence of formal agreements. Andrew Watson explains that these organizations work together to avoid duplication and overlap in their efforts, sharing a commitment to open standards 1. He states, "You can think of them as interlocking pieces of the overall public open standards jigsaw" 3. This cooperation ensures that each body can focus on its area of expertise while contributing to the broader goal of creating accessible and non-mandatory standards.

   

Patent Challenges

Dealing with patents is a complex issue for OMG, as it can impact the implementation of open standards. Andrew Watson acknowledges the risk of unknowingly infringing on existing patents, despite efforts to identify and document them 3. He remarks, "We can't guarantee that if you implement an OMG standard you won't be infringing somebody's patent somewhere" 3. This uncertainty underscores the challenges faced by organizations like OMG in maintaining openness while navigating the legal landscape of software patents.