In this important and useful paper, Wiederhold points out the inherent dilemma in the setting of standards: on the one hand, standards can retard technical progress by locking in the use of suboptimal technology; on the other hand, standards can stimulate progress by making widespread adoption and innovation with technology feasible for organizations and users. Standards can thus never be clearly good or bad, but rather embody the tradeoffs inevitable in any rapidly changing technological domain. Government can play a crucial role in standard-setting by virtue of its power as a regulator, as a sponsor of research and development, and as a potentially large customer. When played well, government’s role in standards is a boon to technological (and economic) progress. When played badly, the consequences are most unfortunate. The author argues that government action on standards is most helpful when concentrated on interfaces rather than on specific components, and when it supports the work of consortia representative of the technical community. Government can also play an important role in the dissemination of information vital to standard-setting, in demonstrating the viability of standards, and in encouraging market support of useful standards. The paper specifically concentrates on software standards issues, and makes several references to the Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (ARPA’s) role in software standards efforts.