Standards: the Rough Road to the Common Byte

This report looks at the growing but confusing body of information technology standards by concentrating on 7 areas: UNIX OS; OSI for data communication; DoD's CALS; the Ada programming langua ISDN, narrow band and broadb multimedia standards (text, database, and image compression), and 5 specialized standards (encryption, electronic chip design, machine tools, maps, TRON). Each realm is examined from several viewpoints: the problems that need to be solved, the degree of success of standards, the role of public policy in the standards process, and major trends in each area. Charts and tables.