Notyetstandardized

Notyetstandardized refers to technologies, protocols, formats, or interfaces that have been proposed or implemented in some form but have not completed formal standardization by a recognized standards body, or do not yet have a widely accepted de facto standard. The term is often used to indicate a state of transition between early experimentation and formal consensus, where interoperability is not guaranteed and implementations may diverge.

In standardization practice, bodies such as ISO/IEC, IEEE, IETF, and W3C run processes that involve working groups, public drafts, comment periods, and testing before publishing final standards. Items described as notyetstandardized may be in draft stages, under active development, or exist primarily as experimental or vendor-specific specifications. They may also reflect evolving consensus around a common approach that has not yet reached formal approval.

The notyetstandardized status carries both risks and opportunities. Interoperability challenges and fragmentation can arise when different groups implement incompatible variants. However, this stage can foster rapid innovation, community feedback, and broader experimentation prior to formal standardization. To manage risk, organizations often rely on provisional profiles, reference implementations, or interoperability testing streams while standardization efforts proceed.

Paths to standardization typically involve contributing to or forming a standards body, publishing open proposals, developing reference implementations, and conducting interoperability events. Successful efforts culminate in published standards and conformance criteria. The label notyetstandardized can also appear in project documentation or issue trackers to indicate feature areas awaiting formal consensus.