I find it rather irksome, not to say almost unethical, for tech companies to corral users to their platforms. To make matters worse, in some cases they seem to make their devices as incompatible to others as they can just to make it close to impossible for their users to leave the ecosystem the company created for them.
As users, we are better served by having products built around a single, and open, standard. This way we can have the freedom to move to another companies products if we choose to do so, while not having to worry if what we have will work on those other products. We have the right to use whatever products we want, and companies have no right to lock us to their devices.
When it comes to competing standards, users must have a bigger say on on which one they prefer. Once the standard becomes the reference point, it should be open and free for all to use. Standards shouldn't be used as a tool to keep competition out, and users locked in whatever walled garden the company chooses to make for us.
Technology is here to serve people, and making technologies that lock people in isn't conductive to that principle. All technology should be open, so that we can all make the most use of it for our particular needs or those of the community we live in.
Open standards is about making technology available to as wide an audience as possible, so it can benefit the majority of individuals.
Closing them give the upper hand to the few that control, so they get to say how the technologies built around that standard get to work and who gets it in what form.
At the end, people is the core on which all technology revolves.
Comments
Post a Comment