A widespread consensus on a particular product or
protocolwhich 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 PCwhich, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has
that it is now popular simply because it is popular and
therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software
development.
(1994-10-27)