Whats good for the Goose should be good for the Gander

We're kind of schizophrenic about standards. In theory everybody agrees that they're a "Good Thing". In practice they may get pushed through if there's enough profit involved for enough players, and/or it doesn't threaten the top dogs too much.

But if it's for something less important, like public safety and human lives, for example, then baring effective legislation it just won't get anywhere.

You may think I'm just playing curmudgeon, so as the prototypical and ongoing exhibit for my argument

From: Baltimore Fire of 1904 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Baltimore_Fire

Quoting: "As a result of the fire a city building code was adopted. Public pressure, coupled with demands of companies insuring the newly re-built buildings, spurred the effort. The process took seventeen nights of hearings and multiple city council reviews.[15]

A national standard for fire hydrant and hose connections was adopted by the National Fire Protection Association. However, inertia remained, and conversion was slow; it still remains incomplete. One hundred years after the Baltimore Fire, only 18 of the 48 most populous U.S. cities were reported to have installed national standard fire hydrants.[16] Hose incompatibility contributed to the Oakland Firestorm of 1991: although the standard hose coupling has a diameter of 2.5 inches (64 mm), Oakland's hydrants had 3-inch (76 mm) couplings.[17]"

(posted here because, once again, Jeff's blog is silently dropping my submissions)