To add yet another example to the pile, I read
somewhere that Spain
specifically made its railroads with a different width than their neighbors
around WWI or WWII because they wanted to prevent Germany, among other nations, from
being able to invade the country easily, as they could have done if the rail
widths matched exactly.
There is a great deal of defensive benefit to corporations
in certain circumstances keeping their products incompatible with other
companies’ products. The typical corporation has a SWOT analysis
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) which it keeps updated on a
regular basis to choose a strategic plan. It has been this way since the first
business was destroyed by the second one, and no amount of interoperability
advocacy will overcome a company’s need to protect itself.
-Rich
Sincerely,
Rich Cooper
EnglishLogicKernel.com
Rich AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com
9 4 9 \ 5 2 5 - 5 7 1 2
-----Original Message-----
From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Hans Polzer
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 4:24 PM
To: 'deddy'; '[ontolog-forum] '
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Architectural
considerations in Ontology Development
This reminds me of the fact that during the Cold War
the Swedish military deliberately made their systems non-interoperable with
those of other countries (like NATO nations) because they didn't want any
invading troops to be able to use any equipment they might capture.
Having said that, the socio-political business model
dynamic is not static and Sweden
now wants to be able to interoperate with other nations because they now see
the benefits of interoperation outweighing the perceived risks/costs. The advent
of the Internet and global supply chains and inter/intra-industry service
providers now are leading many companies towards greater interoperability and
abandonment of proprietary standards (or attempting to make the latter more
open, de facto, industry standards). That doesn't mean some won't still see
economic or political advantage by frustrating interoperability (the Internet
itself exhibits some of this behavior at some national and most corporate
domain boundaries). It's best to look at this issue overall as an evolving
ecosystem operating in an evolving environment, both of which are affected by
technological progress and social and business model innovations/experiments. Darwin rules. In many
cases interoperability spells survival and in other cases it leads to self (or
mutual) destruction. Standards get proposed and gain acceptance/persistence or
fall into disuse accordingly.
Hans
-----Original Message-----
From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of deddy
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 4:06 PM
To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum]
Architectural considerations in Ontology Development
Aït-Kaci -
>
> only reason the width of a Roman horse's ass over
2000 years ago!
>
Likely largely true.
But... this being America (which I assume is likely
the same sort of chaos elsewhere)...
Around the Civil War there were approximately 21 rail
gauges east of the Mississippi.
Clearly the issue of there being a plethora of
"standards" is not a new challenge.
The corporate game of intentional lack of
interoperability is not new.
______________________
David Eddy
Babson Park,
MA
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