Question

What is the usefulness of standards from the perspective of interoperability of systems manufactured by different entities? What are the advantages of "proprietary" systems offered by some manufacture's that do not conform to industry-wide standards?

Answer 1

Standards are published documents that establish specifications and procedures designed to maximise the reliability of products, materials and services people use every day. They are implemented in products used in nearly every facet of our lives, from aerospace and electronics to green technology, from transport to construction.

Standards address a broad range of issues. They make products work better, make them compatible and able to interact with other products, and safeguard consumer safety. They simplify product development and speed up the time it takes for a product to get to market.

In a nutshell, standards fuel the development and implementation of technologies that influence and transform the way we live, work and communicate

Interoperability is a real benefit associated with standards. Consider it from a consumers' perspective: when you purchase a laptop, you expect that it will connect wirelessly to the internet no matter where you are.

For example, think about a time you might have been working at the office on an online document, then gone to a café and searched for convenient times for a movie playing nearby, and finally gone home to review and send emails.

Throughout the entire chain of events, not once did you have to think about which standards were being used, whether your laptop's wireless technology would work in these environments or whether there would be an issue with your computer's power supply. Interoperability of standards makes all of this - and much, much more - possible.

Standards also maintain choice for consumers, ensuring that several suppliers can supply similar but compatible products, maintaining competition and keeping prices low while offering a wider range of choices in any one category.

Standards may firstly support national health and safety; electrical and fire hazard standards are a prime example. Furthermore, within any one country, the definition of standards may ensure compatibility and interoperability between different industries, thereby helping to develop more comprehensive and wider-reaching products and services.

In a world of increasing globalisation, these benefits are increased by an order of magnitude. European standards have been of great importance for the development of a single European market, and the trend is now towards ever-increasing international co-operation. International standards help to break down trade barriers and further world trade. The ever-expanding globalisation of the car industry is a prime example.

One advantage to using a proprietary-software system is that you will generally be able to take advantage of the software company's customer service department for troubleshooting and setup purposes. Proprietary software may have more features that appeal to the business owner. For example, some word processing programs may integrate website-development features or features compatible with other proprietary software made by the same manufacturer. Additionally, proprietary software is generally tailored to meet a market need, whereas this is not always the case with open-source software. Open-source software is often cheaper, if not free. Although the customer support may not be available with open-source software, its wide distribution means that you may be able to gain help from a large number of users on the Internet via forums or other information sources. As problems arise, fast bug and security fixes are often available for open-source software.

There are three advantages of opting out for a proprietary software.

The first one - a competitive advantage. Wether a person develop a robot or a company develops a platform, they will have something unique. An individual is able to use this software to attract investors. A company may attract more clients.

Secondly, a company gains quite some independence when it starts relying on its own software. What if a 3rd party platform developer goes out of business or decides to quadruple the price of the software? A company would have to suffer a lot, as it relies on this piece of software. This won’t happen when a proprietary software is used.

Finally, customisation is what really matters for many. With your own software it is possible to tweak anything you want