X/Open may have waited too long to amend its charter and try to turn itself into a user-led organisation, since its viability as the predominant open systems standards body is currently threatened by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This US government agency is attempting to establish itself as the centre for worldwide open systems requirements, working through the so-called Group of Ten. This Group is an end-user alliance reportedly spearheaded by factions inside DuPont, General Motors, Merck, American Airlines, Eastman Kodak, Unilever, 3M, Motorola, Northrup and McDonnell Douglas. In a 24-page proposal currently doing the rounds NIST and the Group of Ten are advocating the creation of a new specifications body to define open systems standards, their conceptual framework and the exact products vendors should produce. This all-embracing OSI-based Open Systems Environment is to be hammered out jointly by vendors and users to accelerate the availability of interoperable products and dictate technology in the areas of networking services, data management, graphics, programming, user interfaces, data interchange and operating systems, down to, and including, the kernel. This body, threatening to fragment the standards issue further, could usurp X/Open’s role by also act-ing as a go-between with other user groups and vendor consortia.
