De facto is a
Latin expression that means "in fact" or "in practice" but not spelled out by law. It is commonly used in contrast to
de jure (which means "by law") when referring to matters of
law,
governance, or technique (such as
standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without or contrary to a regulation. When discussing a legal situation, de jure designates what the law says, while de facto designates action of what happens in practice.
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A widespread consensus on a particular product or
protocol which 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 PC which, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has gained such a large share of the
personal computer market that it is now popular simply because it is popular and therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software development.
(1994-10-27)
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