🚀 go-pugleaf

tamir@meiko.com writes:

	Let me play devil's avocado for a second, just to try to provoke
a little serious thought on the topic of "Open Systems" ;) Just please
don't peel me too roughly...

>Open Systems facilitate the entry of new players into the computer market by 
>causing a reduction in the barriers to entry. The definition of clearly defined
>and widely published standards provides benefits to both the vendor and user 
>communities.

	"Open Systems" prevents small players from competing by upping
the ante for what is required. Nowadays it is not uncommon for a bid
to contain a huge laundry-list of sometimes unused "Open Systems"
features and standards, which means that a small player would have to
support all kinds of crud or be "proprietary" and risk being accused
of attempting all manner of heinous lock ins, etc, etc.

	"Open Systems" is nothing more than a large club, which can
be used to hammer your competition; just as presidential candidates
accuse each other of immorality, vendors all strive to be more "Open"
than others.

	What *IS* an "Open System"? Since I'm kind of a logical positivist
sort of guy at heart, I'd like someone to propse a definition that is
*testable* - or I consider it to be metaphysical. ;)

mjr.

PS - Obviously, these are only my individual opinions. Digital is very
committed to Open Systems. It's only mjr that doesn't quite have the
IQ to figure out what they are.