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- Definition of Proprietary
- Exclusively owned by a single vendor
- Closed technology - noone but the vendor knows how it works
- Protected by Law - The technology is either Patented, Copyrighted, or is a Trade Secret
- Usually not standards-compliant (despite marketing material to the contrary). For something to become a standard, it must be well known, well distributed and freely available--none of which are usually true of proprietary solutions.
- Requires negotiation or binding legal agreement designed to restrict the user's freedoms when using the technology (Microsoft's EULA, for instance)
- Vendors of Proprietary solutions
- IBM
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Dell
- Compaq
- HP
- Sun
- Benefits of Proprietary solutions
- Bleeding edge technologies--sometimes vendors actually come up with something that works.
- Solves specific niche problems--vendors are always looking for yet another way to make a profit from your problems. They'll even tell you you have a problem (when you don't) just so they can 'solve' your problem and make some more money from your fear or paranoia.
- Doesn't wait for ratification of standards, therefore it is nearly always guaranteed to be incompatible with anything else that comes out later.
- Sometimes becomes a standard in itself--but only if enough people purchase the solution and actually use it.
- Drawbacks of Proprietary solutions
- INCOMPATIBILITY - Nearly always incompatible with any other solution or product (usually this was intentionally part of the design to lock the buyer into a specific vendor's products). In some cases, the product provided by the vendor is specifically designed to cause problems with other vendors systems (See: Kerberos compatibility problems).
- COST - Usually far more expensive than other more 'open' solutions because no one else supports it and the owner-manufacturer is the only source for the product (see A. above).
- UNPREDICTABLE - Vendors will fequently maked un-announced changes to their technology in order to maintain their legal protections on it.
- try to bend well-known highly functional protocols still undergoing standardization to their own needs so they can claim copyright or patent rights and prevent the competition from utilizing the technology.
- UNSUPPORTED - Vendors are usually focused on PROFIT, not functionality or usability. If you have a problem interconnecting or operating their solution with another solution from another vendor, they will point the finger at the other vendor and play the blame game.
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