Why Standards?

Jim Waldo has a weblog post at

http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4840

which, while not mentioning XML, seems to relate pretty well to some of 
our standards permathreads on xml-dev. He writes:

"I can't think of a single standard that was invented by committee that 
has survived in the marketplace. The long-standing standards are those 
that were first de facto standards, and were described (no invented) by 
the standards bodies."

Perhaps XML is a counter-example, although one could object that:

- XML is a codification of SGML best practices for the web, and hence 
was described, not invented. To me, XML seems like a bit of a hybrid, 
neither invented from scratch, nor a straight documentation of existing 
practice.

- It's too soon to tell. At five years old, XML seems to be doing pretty 
well, but it certainly isn't up there with IP or ANSI C as long-lasting 
standards go.

Some of the follow-on XML standards like XML Schema and XQuery are 
clearly in the "invented" category. It will be interesting keep Jim's 
comments in mind as we watch their progress

Jim