the problem is exactly that. some group in an ivory tower refuses to (or can't?) move. most of posix is like that. Linux "standard" for gui stuff is still some definition from IBM to normalize DOS apps (reason why F10 open menus, copy paste with ctrl+ins, shift+ins, etc).
then people that can't work together with others (eg Jobs) does retarded things like /localLibrary which benefit nobody, not even themselves. just throw everything up. then if those folks succeed despite that, it becomes the new immutable thing to follow, like gnome is doing with following blindly apple ui specs.
edit: i never tried to contribute to any larger standard. i did develop against most of them, cursed at their anachronistic ways and coded around it praising consistency. so i am pretty sure i am part of the problem described above. I'm not saying the fine people in those ivory towers are the problem. I'm glad we have that little help for world consistency. it's just not enough.
You're taking received wisdom from Wikipedia, and it's wrong. Common User Access was for normalizing IBM applications, across its then hardware platforms: the PC, System/3x, and System/370. Indeed, it's most promiment PC success was 32-bit IBM OS/2, which implemented the later CUA 91 and which most definitely wasn't DOS.
well, whatever the actual reason, i actually (used to) consult it when writing CURSE applications only because it is the closest we have for a curses application usability standard.
where it came from originally is not much of concern. but the fact that it is the best we have, is.
then people that can't work together with others (eg Jobs) does retarded things like /localLibrary which benefit nobody, not even themselves. just throw everything up. then if those folks succeed despite that, it becomes the new immutable thing to follow, like gnome is doing with following blindly apple ui specs.
edit: i never tried to contribute to any larger standard. i did develop against most of them, cursed at their anachronistic ways and coded around it praising consistency. so i am pretty sure i am part of the problem described above. I'm not saying the fine people in those ivory towers are the problem. I'm glad we have that little help for world consistency. it's just not enough.