Compatibility, standards, and software production

Abstract

■ Compatibility is a key strategic decision in software production. Proposals exist for standards in several fields of software production, such as networking (ISO and IEEE), operating systems (Posix), and object management (OMG). However, a formal treatment of standards in software is still missing. This article tries to overcome this lack, presenting a model of the effects of compatibility in software production. It overviews existing work on compatibility; details a model on the effects of compatibility decisions in software development; and describes the application of this model to new products being introduced and to well-established incumbents. ompatibility is a key strategic decision in software production, in particular when the software development process is based on domain analysis and reuse. For some years software firms have been facing process improvement and product quality issues. However, few are conscious of the role of market structure in their operations. Often “experts,” following rules of thumb, perform the analysis of the application. They aim at identifying feasibility and potential return on investment, but usually do not consider in depth aspects related to market structure, such as compatibility and consumer network effects. Proposals exist for standards in several fields of software production, such as networking (ISO and IEEE), operating systems (Posix), and object management (OMG). However, a formal treatment of standards in software is still missing. This article describes a mathematical model of the effects of compatibility on software production and discusses the application of this model in different scenarios. Papers by Matutes and Regibeau [1988; 1992] are the base; references are also made to the proposals of Farrell and Saloner [1985; 1986] and to Katz and Shapiro [1985]. This paper is organized as follows. A review of the existing approaches is presented in Section 1. Section 2 proposes a framework to determine the effects of standards in software production. Section 3 analyses the conclusions coming from the application of the framework. Section 4 draws some conclusions and outlines future directions of this research.