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To: Bearded One who wrote (15612)	12/26/1997 1:40:00 AM
From: Charles Hughes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

>>>Admittedly, Justice has no clear precedents for forcing a company to design its products to accommodate those of competitors.<<< They seem to have missed a stroke on that one. They in fact forced IBM to redesign their connectors so that other peripheral manufacturers could attach, as I recall. I believe the homogenization of the phone systems demanded some hardware changes. In fact I think that railroads have been instructed to change gauge of track, electrical companies have had to standardize plugs and AC frequencies (way back when), companies that make screw fittings on pipes have had to produce threads of standard angles, and many many other instances of the government laying down the rules for product specs are available. FDA does it. NBS does it. Congress does it. DOD does it. FAA does it. EPA does it. SEC does it. So why can't DOJ do it? National Bureau of Standards in fact was created partly to do this, and has been doing it since nearly the beginning of the Republic, has it not? As similar to such organizations in other nations. Otherwise, light bulbs would even be a problem. Gasoline would be a problem. Airplanes would be a problem. Recyclable cans would be a problem. Software is no longer a new thing. It can now have the same legal procedures as other industries, and as a software developer, I say it's about time. Chaz P.S. Right after this one we should go for reinstating the consumers right to some kind of warrentee on software. Perhaps not the same kind you get on heart valves or Rolexs, but something. Then maybe a simple competence test for programmers of critical systems would be nice.