What is Spec-Ops?

The Internet is governed by standards. You might not know about most of them, but they are there. Trust us. And developing those standards is extremely difficult. There are endless committee meetings, documents developed, tests written and run - all to make sure that you can do things all the way from watching a movie about a mother cat rescuing a pit bull puppy to seamlessly transferring funds to your mother in Peoria. Those standards are developed largely by volunteers. People who participate in the activity because it is important to them or to their employer, but (for the most part) for which they are not given any extra time to actually do the work required.

That's where we come in. We're Spec-Ops, and we're here to help. Our mission is simple: Identify critical Open Standards activities and move them along. Put experts in the room who understand the technology, who know about the process of creating standards, and who have no specific personal or corporate agenda. Then let them get on with it.

We will be making announcements about our first focus areas in the coming weeks. In the interim, c'mon in. Look around. Read up on how we are organized, who is involved already, and start thinking about the possibilities — the amazing progress that can be made when experts are dedicated to the task. Let us know what you think. Let us know if you would like to help!

(If you want to read a bit more about the philosophy and goals of Spec-Ops, you might check out this blog post .)