TYPES OF STANDARDS—PROPRIETARY VERSUS OPEN We can analyze two types of basic standards: -
Proprietary, or de facto ("from the fact"), standards have evolved from a product line or specific vendor, such as the IBM PC, UNIX or Microsoft's Windows. These standards develop when such a product or vendor is widely accepted by a broad base of customers or users. It may become a dominant technology and if produced from a single company it is designated as "proprietary" or exclusive. The dangers should be apparent—a single supplier or vendor has total control over the functionality and usefulness of the product. -
Open, or de jure ("by law"), standards are developed and adopted by some authorized standardization body. Such organizations may be created by treaty among national governments or voluntary nontreaty organizations. General examples, such as the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), were referred to earlier in this chapter. De jure standards develop because there is no underlying technology, dominant, or proprietary technology needed to implementation. For example, XML—short for eXtensible Markup Language—a specification developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3), is an example of an open standard. Open standard technologies, including Linux and Java technologies, give choice. Developers can choose the fastest and most capable hardware systems to execute their applications and services. Users can start the development on small, relatively inexpensive workstations, such as Linux boxes running Java then scale up to larger servers from IBM, Sun, HP, or numerous other vendors as required later on. As a business, they can choose the most cost-effective hardware, software and service vendors to meet the needs. The entire industry of UNIX vendors, Java-based middle tier and application server companies, and database providers is at their disposal. Put simply, open standards give users extreme agility and flexibility as they develop solutions and grow their businesses. Table 9.1 compares the attributes of proprietary and open standards. Table 9.1. A Comparison of the Attributes of Proprietary and Open Standards | Characteristics | Proprietary Model | Open Model | | Reliability | Closed process—high degree of variability | Visible process—more likely to yield reliable results faster | | Interoperabilty | At the disgression of a single vendor | Assured by definition | | Risk | One vendor as control point—if vendor loses interest in the project for any reason, user rarely has recourse or resources to self-maintain | Depends on the community developing the project—if it has value to users, those users know that in the worst case, they can support the resulting product themselves | | Power (who has it?) | Vendor | User | | Speed of updates | Many enter market based on vendor requirements | Enters market depending on member needs | | Quality | Depends on single source | Best of breed | | Cost | May be less expensive initially, loss of choice may raise expected future costs | May reduce cost |
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