[DS-public] Wanted: material on how file formats impact innovation

[robert_weir at us.ibm.com]

public-bounces at digistan.org wrote on 01/15/2009 05:18:08 AM:
> 
> This tip too:
> 
> > In the Formats Wars section, maybe mention of
> > this problem which surfaced during Hurricane
> > Katrina in the U.S.:
> http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/06/fema-to-mac-linux-us.html
> 
> is very useful. Maybe not exactly for the seminar, as that's a problem
> with communication protocols rather than file formats, isn't it? 
However,
> I'll surely use this story, which I had missed, for the next edition of
> the Family Guide.
> 

The issue here wasn't at the HTTP protocol level.  It was with Microsoft's 
implementation of the W3C HTML, CSS2 and DOM.  So certainly not a 
"document format" per se, but the issue it raises can happen any time 
standards and monopolies mix:

1) A open standard is created.  Some companies implement the standard 
faithfully, say Opera.  Others do not implement the standard faithfully, 
say Microsoft.

2) Because Microsoft has the greater market share, content creators, say 
the government, create content that works with the dominant application, 
say Microsoft Internet Explorer. They do so whether or not that product 
actually conforms to the standard.

3) So application vendors, like Opera, Firefox, etc., who implement the 
standard faithfully find themselves in a situation where their product is 
perceived to be less functional because the mal-adapted content created to 
work only with the dominant application does not work well with the 
conforming applications.

4) This then obviously props up the monopoly by increasing switching costs 
for customers.  This mechanism is so powerful that there is an built-in 
incentive for a monopolist to intentionally implement standards poorly in 
order to take advantage of this lock-in.

This applies to file formats, communication protocols, pretty much any 
standard where one company has a monopoly.

-Rob