24 Jan, 2008: Why Does ‘Openness’ Matter for ICT?
IT is increasingly embedded into our daily lives and continues to meld with traditional industries and applications such as healthcare, transportation, media, security, and telecommunications. Battles over non-interoperability and consumer access due to a lack of open IT standards are popping up in unexpected places. The automotive repair industry provides a good example of this: consumers and non-dealer-owned repair shops are fighting for access to technical interface information required for diagnosing and repairing cars, which are quickly becoming computers on wheels. Another example is the global debate around varying levels of ‘openness’ in standardised office document formats....