The Days of Proprietary Software Platforms are Numbered

The days of businesses relying on locked-down operating systems and platforms tightly controlled by commercial organisations are numbered, according to Hadoop creator Doug Cutting.

Proprietary software platforms put businesses at the mercy of the platform vendor, often locking them into accepting regular price hikes, Cutting told ZDNet.

Cutting believes that what will kill business demand for proprietary platforms is the threat of lock-in, where a customer is dependent on a vendor for products and services such that they cannot switch to another vendor without suffering substantial costs.

"I don't think we're done with proprietary software but people are thinking a more reasonable place for it is at the fringes rather than at the centre," he said.