Standard procedure

摘要

Almost by definition, people take standards for granted. Their computers connect to the internet via Wi-Fi from home, the office or a coffee shop. They chat happily to friends with different mobile phones on different networks. Somehow, devices and components made by dozens of different companies have to be compatible with each other-and no one must see the join. To make this happen, bodies such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Telecommunications Union painstakingly draw up complex technical standards with which whole industries comply.