[LBo] ISO and what it is.

[Howard Rosen]

Lately I've been helping a friend do an iso image burn of a CD.  Then I
remember that we also encounter file system iso 9660 for a cd.

I've gotten curious about what iso is and here is some of what I've
uncovered.

"The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (in French;
L'Organisation internationale de normalisation) is an international
standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national
standards bodies. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization produces
world-wide industrial and commercial standards.

While the ISO defines itself as a non-governmental organization (NGO),
its ability to set standards that often become law, either through
treaties or national standards, makes it more powerful than most NGOs.
In practice, the ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to
governments. As of fall 2006, there are 158 members, each of which
represents one country.

ISO cooperates closely with the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC), which is responsible for standardisation of electrical
equipment."

"Here's more about ISO and Still, the fact that many of the ISO-created
standards are ubiquitous has led, on occasion, to common usage of "ISO"
to describe the actual product that conforms to a standard. Some
examples of this are:

      * CD images end in the file extension "ISO" to signify that they
        are using the ISO 9660 standard filesystem as opposed to another
        file system - hence CD images are commonly referred to as
        "ISOs". Virtually all computers with CD-ROM drives can read CDs
        that use this standard. Some DVD-ROMs also use ISO 9660
        filesystems.
      * Photographic film's sensitivity to light, its "film speed," is
        described by ISO 5800:1987. Hence, the film's speed is often
        referred to as its "ISO number."
      * 
 I hope many of you find this as fascinating as I have.  It has been my
pleasure to share this information with you.

Howard