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Bruce Schneier Weighs in on IT Lock-in Strategies

Posted by Zonk on from the lock-and-key dept.

dhavleak writes "Wired has an article from Bruce Schneier on the intersection of security technologies and vendor lock-ins in IT. 'With enough lock-in, a company can protect its market share even as it reduces customer service, raises prices, refuses to innovate and otherwise abuses its customer base. It should be no surprise that this sounds like pretty much every experience you've had with IT companies: Once the industry discovered lock-in, everyone started figuring out how to get as much of it as they can.'"

3 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Re:As in... by trolltalk.com · · Score: 4, Informative

    lock-in = subscription based business model...for those that don't know :)

    Nope.

    Lock-in is anything that creates barriers to moving to a competitor. For example, file formats. Or email address non-portability between different ISPs (or freemail providers, for that matter). Or (in the case of telecoms) number non-portability.The subscription model is one of the ways to milk extra bucks from lock-in, but it isn't itself a "lock-in."

    --
    Kevin Smith on Prince
  2. Re:Build-your-own systems are starting to look goo by milsoRgen · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.opencores.org/

    As far as the cost of getting one of those built, I'd like to know that myself... Reminds me when I was part of the crew dismantling the old fabs responsible for the Z80... Shoulda paid one of the drivers to deliver one of those Canon machines to my garage...

    --
    I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
  3. Re:As in... by Sciros · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's completely wrong! A lock-in is when the consumer is "stuck" with a particular vendor. This may be due to any number of things, but subscription is not one of them. A subscription-based service only locks you in if it makes unsubscribing difficult (which may translate to costly), which has nothing to do with being a subscription-based service in the first place.

    A company that runs on a subscription-based business model would *benefit* from lock-in (to keep subscriptions going), but it doesn't have to do it. Magazines don't lock you in, neither do websites with subscription-based access (e.g. IGN, or newspapers), etc. You're always free to cancel and subcribe to something else if you wish.

    --
    I like basketball!!1!