Why can’t software companies figure out that competing with proprietary standards is a lose-lose proposition.The effort to build and maintain compliance with competing standards is a huge waste of development resources without adding any value. The cost of using the technology to the consumer rises dramatically as the cost is passed on as well as the hours spent trying to cross these proprietary divides at home (think 10 years ago with PC’s at work and Macs at the office), or at work (WINDOWS vs UNIX).
When is Microsoft going to realize that whoever offers up the standard and promotes wide, free adoption will win in this new technology world? The old days of installed software with high barriers to switch are dying. If the company cannot ensure that their standard wins (as Microsoft did do with DOS and Office back in the 80-90’s), then they will suffer inevitable declines. And that is happening with Microsoft today. Has anyone tried using Office 2007 — what an unmitigated disaster. Or who uses Windows Media Audio compared to MP3?
The latest wars are now over media players. Adobe and Microsoft have each announced their media players, only creating more confusion and costs for software developers and publishers. Creating no additional value but adding considerable cost to their efforts, publishers must now determine which players and standards to support.
Had we had the same battling over HTML, the Internet would not have had such a significant impact on our lives. Rich internet media-driven apps could have the same next-generation impact, but history has shown us that competing standards is a lose-lose proposition.
