Rethinking the Datacenter Sponsored by HP Today's datacenters need to increase utilization, get control over power and cooling costs, and align with business objectives. Download this eBook to learn about the challenges facing the data center in a world where digital information is growing at a torrid pace and costs are being held in check. Learn more. »     Putting the Green into IT Sponsored by HP Electricity use in data centers is skyrocketing, sending energy bills through the roof, creating environmental concerns and generating negative publicity. "Going Green" means looking to technologies like virtualization, energy-efficient chips and racks, and implementing policies that extend beyond the data center. Learn more. »     Managing the Modern Network Sponsored by HP In a global economy where information crosses the globe in an instant, and where Web-based applications power business, it's more important than ever to ensure your network is safe from threats and optimized to deliver the data your business needs. »     Evaluating Software as a Service for Your Business Sponsored by Webroot Is Software as a Service just hype, or is something really going on here? See if your company can benefit as SaaS tries to change the face of the enterprise. »     Is Your Disaster Recovery Plan Good Enough? Sponsored by HP Preparing for a disaster is more often than not part of the storage planning process, and it is one of the most difficult tasks, since it includes local hardware and software, networking equipment, and a test plan. Learn how to get disaster recovery right. »

An impulsive and immediate migration to Linux can sometimes lead to disappointment. Ambitious businesses are sometimes led to believe that their data can merely be be dumped from one platform onto another, but the reality is a little more complex than this. In order for a migration to be successful, one needs to be familiar with native Linux applications, and the data needs to be stored in a format that is independent from just a single application.

Changing one's favorite application can be hard. Everyone resists the introduction of new things, especially when they threaten and have direct impact on the force of habit. For a very long time, large and well-established software vendors have capitalized on people's reluctance to learn new processes, such as identification and menu items and familiarity with user interfaces. Some software vendors went further and defended these processes by introducing the notion of ownership, then essentially patenting behavior. Even more software vendors used the idea of obscurity to restrict (or altogether eliminate) people's ability to change. This is known as lock-in.

Many of these issues can easily be addressed when transparency is embraced. Moreover, sharing of information facilitates more rapid development of knowledge. It speeds up improvement where all peers involved can move forward in harmony, without jeopardising unity and conformity.

A single unified format is the key with which various businesses can communicate conveniently. It is also highly essential for the enhancement of the existing formats, which should preferably remain party-neutral, backward compatible, complete, and elegant. In a world of unified formats, different businesses are able to compete with one another not through restriction or punishment of rival developers and consumers, but rather through innovation, added value, reasonable cost, and a decent level of support. For example, in the case of documents, one unified format is currently OpenDocument format (ODF), and for static documents, Portable Document Format (PDF) has become the norm.

The dawn of the GNU/Linux operating system was a time when the software industry had already evolved (or devolved) into a predatory marketplace. This market was fragmented and isolated. Different software vendors strived to capture their costumers using proprietary formats. Corel, for example, was happy enough treating its popular word processor as though it did not need to interoperate seamlessly with rival software. IBM was no exception. In later years, especially in the United States, software vendors added extra protection to their offerings by making not only their application code a property, but also the ideas behind it. Ownership could then be associated even with mathematical notions. That is the effect of software patents. This shields vendors and yields nothing but nervousnous for competitors and customers. Perceived risk and dependency can be worrisome indeed.

To a software startup that wishes to compete, or even to a customer, the marketplace appeared like a pseudo-ethical and pseudo-competitive playing field at the stage where monopolies prevailed. In the late '90s, the barrier to entry into the market was associated with the complexity of so-called standards. As far as documents are concerned, standards were chosen not by government bodies; instead, there were virtually no formal standards at all. Existing standards, which were simple, got abandoned or extended unilaterally. De facto standards, which were subjected to unpredictable and sudden changes, became ubiquitous enough to be perceived as the standard. People were no longer able to properly understand the meaning, purpose, and importance of standards, which gradually became more innately closed. These were neither free nor open.

Years passed on and people accumulated data. Inability to access older data, which is related but not identical to digital preservation, opened many people's eyes. For example, consider the case where a person loses metadata that accompanies photos if moved from one application to another or one file system to another (a common scenario when changing or upgrading an operating system). Suddenly, people's personal information--including memories with sentimental value--became obsolete and no longer accessible. In some cases, the effort required to regain access to information was just too great to be worth handling. People learned to accept losses, but they also realized that there was a different way--a better way even.

This awakening led to a reform, at least at a mental level. People began bothering to check which formats they can and cannot rely on. Formats were associated with trust and perceived as an important factor. Some people went further and demanded software for which all source code was available.

To enable wider access, various formats such as Portable Document Format (PDF) were formally standardized. Tight control of this these formats was conceded. In turn, new formats were created which also remained independent from applications and companies. One such format is OpenDocument Format (ODF), which is now widely recognized as an international (ISO-approved) standard for documents.

The introduction of a limited set of formats that multiple vendors can work with has resolved notorious and much-loathed (by the customer, not the vendor) issues, most notably lock-in. Backing from international organizations meant that these formats were by no means formalized to benefit one application or one operating system. No company was truly in control of the process. Portability was improved at the application level and the operating system level. People who prefer different platforms--whether an application or the underlying operating system--were able to exchange information at ease and also in a non-lossy fashion. This improved productivity for various reasons.

First among those reasons is personal convenience. There is no one piece of software that suits everyone. There is no parity in user expertise due to level of experience and various backgrounds (including training and education). Different people think differently and thrive in individual strengths. A programmer, for example, might be able to handle technical complexity, whereas a writer can express himself or herself in a clear and eloquent fashion. Any technical peril you put in a writer's face might simply become a distraction and obstruction – simplification enables a writer to be more focused.

The second reason why a unified format solves and addresses many problems has to do with the fact that it eliminates the need to transform and translate of data from one format to another. The data is contained in a form which is defined by one "gold standard." It is a case of abstraction, or separation into layers. Data becomes entirely independent from the application that supports it.

Having identified reasons why no single application suits everyone, one can look at the needs of a business. Businesses must standardize on formats, not software. Formats are verbal and technical specifications, not code. As long as the specifications remain unchanged or evolve in an open, transparent, and carefully monitored fashion, business information is secure. It preserves its integrity in the long term. Businesses, moreover, needn't rely on one particular vendor anymore. It puts the businesses in charge of their financial destiny and puts their data in the hands of responsible, supervised, and peer-reviewing industry consortia.

Next: Leaving Lock-In Behind »