1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC
"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
2 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
3 <html xmlns=
"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir=
"ltr">
5 <meta http-equiv=
"Content-Type" content=
"text/html;charset=utf-8" />
6 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen: Standardize on protocols and formats, not vendors and applications
</title>
7 <link rel=
"stylesheet" type=
"text/css" media=
"screen" href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/style.css" />
8 <link rel=
"stylesheet" type=
"text/css" media=
"screen" href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/vim.css" />
13 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen
</a>
21 <div class=
"title">Standardize on protocols and formats, not vendors and applications
</div>
22 <div class=
"date">30th March
2009</div>
23 <div class=
"body"><p>Where I work at the University of Oslo, one decision stand out as a
24 very good one to form a long lived computer infrastructure. It is the
25 simple one, lost by many in todays computer industry: Standardize on
26 open network protocols and open exchange/storage formats, not applications.
27 Applications come and go, while protocols and files tend to stay, and
28 thus one want to make it easy to change application and vendor, while
29 avoiding conversion costs and locking users to a specific platform or
32 <p>This approach make it possible to replace the client applications
33 independently of the server applications. One can even allow users to
34 use several different applications as long as they handle the selected
35 protocol and format. In the normal case, only one client application
36 is recommended and users only get help if they choose to use this
37 application, but those that want to deviate from the easy path are not
38 blocked from doing so.
</p>
40 <p>It also allow us to replace the server side without forcing the
41 users to replace their applications, and thus allow us to select the
42 best server implementation at any moment, when scale and resouce
43 requirements change.
</p>
45 <p>I strongly recommend standardizing - on open network protocols and
46 open formats, but I would never recommend standardizing on a single
47 application that do not use open network protocol or open formats.
</p>
50 <div class=
"tags">Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard
</a>.
</div>
68 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (
7)
</a></li>
70 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (
10)
</a></li>
72 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (
17)
</a></li>
74 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (
12)
</a></li>
76 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (
12)
</a></li>
78 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (
20)
</a></li>
80 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (
17)
</a></li>
82 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (
6)
</a></li>
84 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (
9)
</a></li>
86 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (
3)
</a></li>
93 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (
16)
</a></li>
95 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (
6)
</a></li>
97 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (
6)
</a></li>
99 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (
7)
</a></li>
101 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (
3)
</a></li>
103 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (
2)
</a></li>
105 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (
7)
</a></li>
107 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (
6)
</a></li>
109 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (
4)
</a></li>
111 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (
2)
</a></li>
113 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (
3)
</a></li>
115 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (
1)
</a></li>
122 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (
2)
</a></li>
124 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (
1)
</a></li>
126 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (
3)
</a></li>
128 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (
3)
</a></li>
130 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (
9)
</a></li>
132 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (
14)
</a></li>
134 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (
12)
</a></li>
136 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (
13)
</a></li>
138 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (
7)
</a></li>
140 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (
9)
</a></li>
142 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (
13)
</a></li>
144 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (
12)
</a></li>
151 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (
8)
</a></li>
153 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (
8)
</a></li>
155 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (
12)
</a></li>
157 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (
10)
</a></li>
159 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (
9)
</a></li>
161 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (
3)
</a></li>
163 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (
4)
</a></li>
165 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (
3)
</a></li>
167 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (
1)
</a></li>
169 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (
2)
</a></li>
171 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (
3)
</a></li>
173 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (
3)
</a></li>
180 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (
5)
</a></li>
182 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (
7)
</a></li>
193 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (
13)
</a></li>
195 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (
1)
</a></li>
197 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (
1)
</a></li>
199 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (
2)
</a></li>
201 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (
12)
</a></li>
203 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (
2)
</a></li>
205 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (
57)
</a></li>
207 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (
113)
</a></li>
209 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (
9)
</a></li>
211 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (
7)
</a></li>
213 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (
4)
</a></li>
215 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (
153)
</a></li>
217 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (
17)
</a></li>
219 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (
12)
</a></li>
221 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (
8)
</a></li>
223 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (
8)
</a></li>
225 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (
31)
</a></li>
227 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (
17)
</a></li>
229 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (
8)
</a></li>
231 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (
4)
</a></li>
233 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (
1)
</a></li>
235 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (
25)
</a></li>
237 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (
199)
</a></li>
239 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (
144)
</a></li>
241 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (
4)
</a></li>
243 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (
2)
</a></li>
245 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (
35)
</a></li>
247 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (
49)
</a></li>
249 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (
1)
</a></li>
251 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (
11)
</a></li>
253 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (
2)
</a></li>
255 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (
4)
</a></li>
257 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (
1)
</a></li>
259 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (
4)
</a></li>
261 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (
2)
</a></li>
263 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (
23)
</a></li>
265 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (
4)
</a></li>
267 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (
2)
</a></li>
269 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (
38)
</a></li>
271 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (
2)
</a></li>
273 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (
4)
</a></li>
275 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (
10)
</a></li>
277 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (
7)
</a></li>
279 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (
34)
</a></li>
281 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (
3)
</a></li>
283 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (
25)
</a></li>
289 <p style=
"text-align: right">
290 Created by
<a href=
"http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.4
</a>