A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol
which has not been ratified by any official standards body,
such as ISO, but which nevertheless has a large market
share.
The archetypal example of a de facto standard is the IBM PC
which, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has
gained such a large share of the personal computer market
that it is now popular simply because it is popular and
therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software
development.
(1994-10-27)
Nearby terms:
deep hack mode « deep magic « deep space « de facto standard » default route » defect » defect analysis
