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The finalized and approved standard costs money, but being an open standard (meaning anyone can contribute), the drafts are available for all.

As for why the finalized versions cost money when the final draft is virtually identical all the time? I honestly don’t know.

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Might be just good ol' market segmentation - a company with the money to spend on a spec isn't likely to settle for a draft, but the average random dev doesn't care much about the differences.

Right, good point, all you get from the WG website is the working draft, which, as you pointed out, is almost always virtually identical to the published one that costs $$$.

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