Philip Brittan's Blog

Java vs. .NET, part 3 - Open Standards

Java’s traditional weapon of choice

The concept of open standards has been the primary weapon of the non-Microsoft camp (which includes the Java community) against Microsoft. And it is a reasonable weapon. Open standards are meant to ensure interoperability between products from different vendors so that customers have the flexibility to put together best of breed solutions and, at least in theory, can swap out one vendor’s products for another’s if they become disenchanted with the first vendor on product quality or price. This means that all vendors are competing on a flatter playing field, and therefore customers and smaller vendors get the benefit of a more efficient market. Cliff Schmidt offers a very nice overview of the why, what, where, who, when, and how of standards.

Major vendors in the non-Microsoft camp push hard on the idea that Microsoft is proprietary and closed, meaning that Microsoft technology interoperates only with other Microsoft technology. A customer who goes down the Microsoft route is “locked in” and can’t choose to swap in non-Microsoft products.

The ideas behind the open standards movement are laudable, and I believe in them. Product standardization -- of electric outlets, of audio equipment connections, of bolt sizes, of fuel types, etc. -- has greatly benefited customers in general. It should certainly do the same in the world of software.

However, as a weapon against Microsoft, it has several weaknesses:

1. It only matters on the server. At this point in time, at least, Microsoft is the unrivalled king of the desktop. They set the standards there, and there are no major movements to challenge Microsoft as the standards-setter within that domain. This means that the concept of open standards in software really only has value in the server/network environment.



2. Microsoft developers don’t care. Microsoft shops are unswayed by the idea of open standards. For them, the standards that Microsoft sets are as legitimate as standards set by any official standards organization. It is a misrepresentation to say that Microsoft software only works with other Microsoft software. Microsoft has fostered a huge ecosystem of ISVs who conform to the standards that it sets. There is a belief in the Microsoft camp, justified or not, that software from vendors who conform to the Microsoft Standard interoperates at least as well, if not better than, software from vendors who conform to Open Standards.



3. The Open Standards camp is fractured. Standards are meant to foster cooperation, innovation, and customer choice. Unfortunately, in the melee of competition, large vendors are often guilty of using standards to club each other over the heads. They also use them, ironically, to keep smaller vendors out of the running by eliminating the possibility of innovation and reducing any competition to one of superior implementation of the given standard, which clearly favors large established vendors.



4. Microsoft is getting into the open standards game. Microsoft has been one of the loudest champions of open standards for XML and Web Services and has moved agressively to make C# an official standard. And they seem to be having a high time clubbing Sun over the head with various aspects of the Web Services standards process. Now, none of us believe that they truly believe in the philosophy of open standards, and there are even rumors that they will shortly abandon the official Web Services standards when they release Indigo. But in the meantime, their high visibility involvement in standards dulls the open standards arguments of the non-Microsoft camp.

(To be continued)

Comments

• Desktop standards
  Interesting article; I'm not going to look at the server side though, I think Microsoft servers sell because of Microsoft desktop products dominance in corporate IT.

  I don't think it's entirely fair to say that Microsoft is the unrivalled king of the desktop - in the conservative world of corporate IT this is true, but for home use, Apple and Linux are both very popular now, while in specialised fields (graphic design, architecture) Apple seems to the preferred choice. Lastly, in science and manufacturing industry Unix and other, less well known platforms, remain very important if not very visible.

  As for standards - the key reason for having Microsoft 'standard' desktops is always Office. Try exporting a Word document as anything useful on another platform... I had rather hoped that we would have seen emerging XML standards for basic documents by now.

  (To be fair, I bought and use Microsoft's Office suite on my personal Apple laptop - and it's rather a nice port; pity this isn't an option on, say, Sun boxes I've worked on.)

  Finally, I don't think there is a standard Windows desktop - is it NT? 98? 2000? XP?

  Posted by: david_kennedy on August 21, 2003 at 08:32 AM

• Desktop standards
  'Emerging XML standards' would include the OASIS Open Office File format I assume. This is based on the prexisiting OpenOffice.org XML file format and is currently being codified in co-operation with KOffice, Corel, Sun, OpenOffice.org, a national library or two, Boeing and other document using organisations. It's looking pretty clever.

  Posted by: nedrichards on August 21, 2003 at 01:20 PM

• Open Standards Vs Microsoft
  Great article. Working as a java guy in a small business client for the past year or so has shown me why Microsoft is still king among small businesses.

  Microsoft shops use Microsoft products because they are easy to deploy (no configuration neccessary), easy to use (no great skills required), work out of the box, integrate seamlessly with other Microsoft products and are relatively cheap. They don't really care about open standards or choice in vendors, but if there were any open standards based solution that did the same thing for the same price, they would happily switch.
  Unfortunately, there aren't any.

  For example, the resident VB + Access guru at my client cannot understand why he must learn OO, java, UML, design patterns, EJB, Weblogic, Rational Rose, JBuilder, Ant and jUnit before he can take over my responsibilities in this project.

  Untill open standards based solutions become as easy to use as Microsoft products, Microsoft shops aren't going to switch any time soon.

  Posted by: nileshpereira on August 22, 2003 at 08:25 AM

• The Java "Standard"
  So, I have to wonder, when will Sun turn Java over to an actual standards body, such as IETF or ECMA? The JCP serves an important role as an advisory comitee, but, at the end of the day, Java is owned and controled by Sun.

  When will Java itself become a true standard?

  Posted by: jamesbritt on August 26, 2003 at 10:47 PM

• 网络营销软件
  网络营销软件
  网络营销软件
  群发软件
  群发软件
  ---
  群发软件
  网络营销软件
  论坛群发软件
  网站排名软件
  群发软件
  推广小助手破解版
  论坛群发软件
  网站排名软件
  群发软件
  推荐给你很好的群发软件和信息群发软件和供求群发软件
  推荐给你很好的群发软件和信息群发软件和供求群发软件博客群发软件网络营销软件网络营销软件
  网站排名软件网站排名软件网站优化软件信息群发软件信息群发软件信息群发软件论坛群发软件网站推广软件网站推广软件博客群发软件博客群发软件

  群发软件群发软件博客群发软件论坛群发软件网络营销软件论坛群发软件
  信息群发软件推广软件网站推广软件网络营销软件网站推广软件群发软件网站排名软件网站推广软件博客群发软件论坛群发软件群发软件网站排名软件网站推广软件博客群发软件论坛群发软件
  网站排名软件
  博客群发软件
  网站排名软件
  网站推广软件
  群发软件信息群发软件
  免费论坛群发软件
  论坛群发软件
  网站排名软件
  免费博客群发软件
  网站推广软件

  群发软件
  博客群发软件
  网站排名软件
  网站推广软件
  群发软件信息群发软件
  免费论坛群发软件
  论坛群发软件
  网站排名软件
  免费博客群发软件
  博客群发软件
  信息群发软件
  论坛群发软件
  信息群发软件
  博客群发软件
  qq群发软件
  邮件群发软件
  博客群建软件
  企业名录搜索软件
  信息群发软件
  邮件群发软件
  论坛群发软件
  博客群发软件
  网站推广软件
  网络营销软件
  全能营销破解版
  网络营销软件
  论坛群发软件
  论坛群发软件
  论坛群发软件
  网络营销软件
  信息群发软件
  信息群发软件
  信息群发软件
  群发软件
  论坛群发软件
  

  Posted by: mimi9989 on December 06, 2007 at 06:41 AM

• wow power leveling
  wow powerleveling
  wow power leveling
  wow gold
  wow items
  feelingame.com
  wow tips
  Most Valuable WOW Power Leveling Service
  wow power leveling faq
  cheap wow power leveling
  wow power leveling
  wow powerleveling
  wow power lvl

  Posted by: wowleveling on December 13, 2007 at 12:54 AM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.