Benefits of Open Standards

In this chapter, the benefits of open standards were indicated in various ways with respect to the sectors using it. Its importance in comparison to the proprietary formats was as clear as blue waters. The prevention of vendor lock-in is one of the better results from the usage of open standards. Unlike proprietary standards wherein implementers will soon be tied up with a specific standard, open standards guarantee that a user has the freedom of choosing other specification which they think is best to satisfy their requirements. Considering interoperability, it will be easier for communicating systems with different technologies to communicate since standards are open and known.

Open standards can also be exploited by some vendors who at first claim embracing the usage of these specifications. This doing has EEE as the means. EEE stands for Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish. In the embrace stage, a certain vendor publicly declares of their open standards usage. Subsequently, they make enhancements in the acquired standards. Since claiming that these modifications are done by them, they make it proprietary. This now makes the extend part. In the extinguish stage, due to the popularity achievement of the modified open standard, it now becomes de facto. For the reason that they have made it proprietary, the principles of open standards have been defeated.