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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Johnson who wrote (15098)	1/14/2000 12:11:00 AM
From: Mike Buckley	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 54805

Sam, Great stuff you ask about! Your post reminds me that when I first read the manual, the further I got into it the more often I re-read the first couple of pages that discuss proprietary, open architectures. For the carpetologists of the world, the concept takes a little time to thoroughly sink in. The theory you are asking that we test is if a company's source code isn't revealed, it's not possible for their software to be open. Remembering that I'm not a techie, my understanding is that we're not talking about the source code. Instead, we're talking about the stuff that allows one software program to work with another. In other words, we're talking about the interfaces, not the source code. From page 48 and 52 of the original and revised manual, respectively, "It is open if its interfaces are published and other vendors are encouraged to integrate their products with the gorilla prodcut to create a whole product for a target customer." On the next page in both versions, we see that an architecture is closed if "only licensed vendors can build products using the architecture. ... If an architecture is open, on the other hand, its protocols are published, and any vendor who chooses can uild products to it specifications. This is how Intel, Mcrosoft, and Oracle operate." I'd like someone like Erick to tell me if I'm right or wrong about the following analogy. I decide to build an engine. It's got my own technology which I own, making it proprietary. I publish some conncectivity specifications. If vendors build their related products (such as a set of fan blades, a lawnmower blade, or an automobile drive assembly) to my specifications, they will be sucessfully powered by my engine. In so doing, I've handed out to everyone for free the specs that allow vendors' products to work with my product, but I don't give them the information that allows them to improve upon my own product. --Mike Buckley

To: Sam Johnson who wrote (15098)	1/14/2000 12:15:00 AM
From: Uncle Frank	Respond to of 54805

Good confession, Sam. Proprietary Open Architecture is one of the key elements of the Gorilla model, and one of the most confusing. Researching your answer was fun, since it made me read that section of the fm again, and it was like visiting a dear friend <gg>. Quoting from the GG, An architecture is proprietary when it is under the control of a single vendor, in this case the gorilla. It is open if its interfaces are published and other vendors are encouraged to integrate their products with the gorilla product to create a whole product for a target customer. So let's try to apply this to Windows. Even though Microsoft won't release the source code, give the software companies information that allows them to create products that work with Windows. These guys then become part of Microsoft's Value Chain, and can offer a complete product to the customer, such as a shoot 'em up game that works with Windows. This gives Mr. Softee a powerful advantage over competitors, whose operating systems don't have a lot of software available (as in Linux). This advantage is part of the package that ensures Microsoft's dominance over their sector for a lengthy period of time. When Apple had the dominant proprietary operating system they elected to freeze out the software developers and peripheral manufacturers, a decision which doomed them to Chimphood. Hope this helps. uf