Samba made Unix and later Linux systems interoperable with Windows file and print networks by reconstructing SMB behavior from network evidence and, later, published protocol documentation.
Computing systems survive hardware and implementation churn when stable interfaces let old expectations continue to work across new machines, operating systems, and networks.
Technical standards become real only when independent implementations interpret the same words closely enough to exchange data, preserve behavior, and pass interoperability tests.
FIPA tried to turn the experimental agent systems of the 1990s into interoperable platforms by standardizing communication acts, message transport, agent management, content languages and interaction protocols.