lock-in

standard When an existing standard becomes almost impossible

to supersede because of the cost or logistical difficulties

involved in convincing all its users to switch something

different and, typically, incompatible.

The common implication is that the existing standard is

notably inferior to other comparable standards developed

before or since.

Things which have been accused of benefiting from lock-in in

the absence of being truly worthwhile include: the QWERTY

keyboard; any well-known operating system or programming

language you don't like (e.g., see "Unix conspiracy"); every

product ever made by Microsoft Corporation; and most

currently deployed formats for transmitting or storing data of

any kind (especially the Internet Protocol, 7-bit (or even

8-bit) character sets, analog video or audio broadcast

formats and nearly any file format).

Because of network effects outside of just computer

networks, Real World examples of lock-in include the current

spelling conventions for writing English (or French, Japanese,

Hebrew, Arabic, etc.); the design of American money; the

imperial (feet, inches, ounces, etc.) system of measurement;

and the various and anachronistic aspects of the internal

organisation of any government (e.g., the American Electoral

College).

(1998-01-15)