"One of the two articles of faith that Eric Kriss and Peter Quinn embraced in drafting their evolving ETRM was this: products built to 'open standards' are more desirable than those that aren't. Superficially, the concept made perfect sense--only buy products that you can mix and match. That way, you can take advantage of both price competition as well as a wide selection of alternative products from multiple vendors, each with its own value-adding features. And if things don't work out, well, you're not locked in, and can swap out the loser and shop for a winner.
"But did that make as much sense with routers and software as it did with light bulbs and lamps? And in any event, if this was such a great idea, why hadn't their predecessors been demanding open standards-based products for years? Finally, what exactly was that word 'open' supposed to mean...?"
