The Interop Glossary
An evolving vocabulary for the law of interoperability governing electronic data format and communication protocol technical specifications, standards, and technical regulations.
- validation
- The process of verifying whether an instance of a data format or communications protocol actually follows the rules for the language(s) it uses is called validation, and the automated tool used for that purpose is called a validator. A signal or data that passes this process with success is said to be valid or validated. Validation against an incomplete or insufficient set of criteria can lead to a state of validation that does not confer the confidence that the term intends. Thus validation of the validation criteria is an important aspect that is often overlooked.
- vendor lock-in
- In the information technology sector, the design and implementation of a product in such a manner that barriers are created for users wishing to switch to a competing product. Often accomplished by using unique data formats or communications protocols protected from use by competitors by one or more patents. The corollary is that other vendors are "locked out" from developing interoperable applications.
- vendor lock-out
- Manipulation of data formats or communications protocols to deny competitors' applications the ability to interoperate, a term that achieved some notoriety in a Bill Gates internal speech quoted by the Court in Commission v. Microsoft, ¶ 771: "‘What we are trying to do is use our server control to do new protocols and lock out Sun and Oracle specifically ..."
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