Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 148

Imagine a world without standards or one characterized by many competing standards. It probably does not take too long for a picture to emerge in your mind. Think back, for example, to cell phones ten years ago. If your cell phone communicated using a standard that was not available within the local network, you did not get service. This frustrated many an international traveler who expected their phone to work in the country they were visiting only to find that their phone communicated with a different standard than the local one and therefore did not work. Or for those old enough to recall, take for example, the battle between VHS and Betamax video formats. Although today both video replication formats are pretty much retired, how frustrating it was then for the owner of a player of one format to be unable to play a cassette in the other format. These are not isolated examples. Every day we touch and depend on a wide variety of items and technologies to perform in uniform and predictable ways. When things and people fail to perform in the ways we have come to expect, a great deal of frustration, inconvenience, and chaos normally ensues.