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Benefits of Open StandardsProducts that follow open standards are more interchangeable and interoperable. Since it's easier for users to switch among open standard products, such products compete with each other on a level playing field in order to win and retain customers. This generally leads to higher quality products and better value.Some examples of open standards in the computing world:
In contrast, proprietary products (those that don't follow standards and are incompatible with competing products) tend to trap customers who have invested in them. Since these customers have programs that won't run on other systems, documents that can't be read by other systems, and equipment that cannot communicate with other systems, switching to a competing product often requires too great an investment of time and other resources to make it worthwhile. As a result, vendors are less motivated to provide quality products at competetive prices. Some examples of proprietary products which are incompatible with competing products:
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