Although the open-source model is well-known today, when the OSI model was
being developed, there was an ongoing struggle to balance technical openness
with competitive advantage. At that time, each individual network equipment
vendor saw it as an advantage to develop technologies that other companies
could not copy or interact with. Proprietary systems let a vendor claim competitive
advantage as well as collect fees from other vendors it might choose to
share the technology with.
However, proprietary systems can complicate the network administrator’s job
by locking him or her into one vendor, reducing competitiveness and allowing
the vendor to charge higher prices. If the vendor goes out of business or abandons
the technology, no one is left to support or enhance the technology.
The alternative is an open-systems approach in which standards bodies, such
as the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) or ISO, define
technologies. Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP), and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) are examples of technologies that
became standards. Today it is almost impossible to gain market traction with a
product that does not at least allow an open interface for other vendors to
work with. Any network-equipment vendor can implement an open standard.