Why open standards matter

[...] He went on to show the audience, through another word picture describing a 1904 fire in Baltimore, how open standards can prevent unhealthy dependence on one vendor. “Firefighters were called in from all the surrounding states,” Wheeler said. “But all they could do was stand and watch the building burn, because their firehoses would not fit on the fire hydrants.” A standard fire hose coupler could have prevented much of the destruction. [...]

The above quote was from Newsforge’s Tina Gasperson great article following LinuxWorld Boston, in which she describes what open standards are and why they should be addopted. It’s a must read:

http://business.newsforge.com/business/06/04/05/2046210.shtml?tid=3

~ by the OpenStandardsFire