MAY

This word, or the adjective ‘OPTIONAL’, means that an item is truly optional. One vendor may choose to include the item because a particular marketplace requires it or because the vendor feels that it enhances the product while another vendor may omit the same item. An implementation, which does not include a particular option, MUST be prepared to interoperate with another implementation, which does include the option, though perhaps with reduced functionality. In the same vein an implementation, which does include a particular option, MUST be prepared to interoperate with another implementation, which does not include the option (except, of course, for the feature the option provides).