Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

"Open" vs. "Closed"

Author:cameron@alphanumerica.com
Posted:5/10/2000; 8:43:25 AM
Topic:"Open" vs. "Closed"
Msg #:17153
Prev/Next:17152 / 17154

Reading Rael's Meerkat piece, how unfair it is for the open source people to use a nasty adjective like "closed" for our software.

The word "closed" is the exact opposite of the word "open." When a door is not closed, it is open. When a door is not open, it is closed.

When software and APIs are not "open", then they are "closed".

Perhaps a better word would be "proprietary", though it perhaps has even more negative connotations that "closed". No matter what you look at it, software and APIs that force a developer to use a proprietary ["closed"] technology or protocol are not a good thing.

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