Even though I believe that the diversity on ways to do your work, or have your fun, is one of the strengths of FOSS it means nothing if they aren't built on common ground in order to achieve interoperability.
That interoperability should be made through open standards, so that everyone who want to work with them knows that they can so so without fear of being locked into using software from a single vendor. Closed standards are to be avoided at all costs, since they mean that the future of that standard is tied to the whatever happens to whoever holds it or unilateral choices by the vendor.
Standards should be considered a common good, and as such they should be keep open for to use or contribute to it with freedom. No single entity should have a position to totally control any standard, all standards should be in the hands of a governing body made up by all those who have a stake on the future of those standard.
Not only that, that governing body should work openly and with transparency. Anyone that has an interest on how that body work, or how it reach a decision should be able to do so.
At the end, standards are the foundations on which all technology are built upon. As such, is in our best interest for them open so we all know that there will be always be available for everyone. Not only that, any improvement made to any standard will be beneficial to as many users as possible in the least amount of time.
The building blocks of out society, and our future, should belong to all of us.
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