When people talk about technology independence, the discussion often focuses on software, cloud providers, operating systems and where data is stored.

Those questions matter.

But there is another part of the conversation that receives far less attention: open standards.

Open standards determine whether documents can still be opened years from now, whether different systems can communicate with one another, whether organizations can switch vendors without rebuilding everything from scratch, and whether public information remains accessible regardless of which company happens to dominate the market at the time.

They are not particularly exciting to talk about.

But they are foundational.

What is an open standard?

An open standard is a publicly documented technical specification that allows different products, systems or organizations to work together.

The important word is not simply “standard.”

It is open.

A standard is most useful when organizations can implement it without needing permission from one vendor, without being locked into one proprietary product, and without depending on information that only one company controls.

Open standards can apply to many things:

  • document formats
  • network protocols
  • web technologies
  • data exchange
  • authentication
  • messaging
  • file systems
  • accessibility
  • multimedia
  • government information systems

The internet itself works because of standards.

Your web browser does not need to be made by the same company that operates the website you visit. Your email provider does not need to be the same provider used by the person receiving your message.

That interoperability exists because the underlying technologies follow agreed standards.

The danger of invisible lock-in

Vendor lock-in does not always happen because an organization intentionally chooses to become dependent on one company.

Sometimes it happens gradually.

An organization adopts a particular software platform.

Then it creates thousands of documents using that platform.

Then it builds workflows around it.

Then other departments begin using the same system.

Then integrations are developed.

After several years, switching becomes difficult, even if the technology itself is no longer the best option.

The issue is no longer simply whether another product exists.

The issue becomes whether the organization can actually move.

That is where open standards make an enormous difference.

If information is stored using open and well-documented formats, another system can potentially read it.

If systems communicate using open protocols, one component can potentially be replaced without rebuilding everything else.

If data can be exported using widely supported standards, an organization has options.

Without those things, a technology decision made today can become a dependency lasting decades.

Public information should outlive software companies

This issue becomes particularly important for governments, libraries, schools, universities and other public institutions.

Public information often needs to remain accessible for a very long time.

Imagine a government document created today that needs to be opened 30 years from now.

Will the software used to create it still exist?

Will the company that developed that software still exist?

Will a licence still be available?

Will future systems be able to understand the file?

Those are not theoretical questions.

Technology changes quickly, while public records can have retention requirements measured in decades.

The safest long-term approach is not to assume that today's software will still be available.

It is to make sure the information itself is stored in formats that can be independently understood and implemented.

That is one reason open standards matter so much for digital preservation.

Interoperability creates competition

Open standards are also important for competition.

If a government department, business or school can only communicate with systems from one particular vendor, competing products face an enormous disadvantage.

Even if another product is cheaper, safer or technically better, switching may be impractical.

Open standards change that relationship.

Instead of asking:

“Does this product work with Vendor X?”

we can ask:

“Does this product support the standard?”

That is a fundamentally healthier technology environment.

It allows commercial companies to compete on quality, service, usability, security and price rather than on how difficult it is for customers to leave.

Open source benefits from this, but commercial software does too.

An open standard does not require every implementation to be open source.

It simply makes it possible for different implementations to coexist.

Open source and open standards are not the same thing

This distinction is important.

Open-source software and open standards are related, but they are not identical.

An open-source application can still rely on proprietary formats or services.

A proprietary application can support open standards extremely well.

The strongest digital ecosystem is one where both are encouraged.

Open-source software provides transparency, adaptability and the ability to build expertise around technology.

Open standards provide interoperability and portability.

Together, they reduce unnecessary dependency.

But neither should be treated as a magic solution.

Organizations still need good governance, security practices, documentation, technical expertise and long-term planning.

File formats matter more than most people realize

Consider something as simple as an office document.

A document may contain years of work, legal information, research, financial records or public policy.

Yet the ability to open that document may depend entirely on whether software understands the format in which it was saved.

That makes file formats part of information governance.

When organizations choose formats, they are also making decisions about future accessibility.

The same is true for databases.

The same is true for government systems.

The same is true for scientific information.

The same is true for educational materials.

If the information is important, the format in which it is stored is important too.

Standards also matter for accessibility

Open standards can also improve accessibility.

When technologies follow well-documented standards, assistive technologies have a better chance of interacting with them consistently.

Web accessibility is a good example.

Standards allow browsers, screen readers, websites and other technologies to operate together even though they may be produced by completely different organizations.

That interoperability is essential.

Technology should not require people to use one specific product simply to access information.

For public services in particular, accessibility and interoperability should be considered part of the same larger responsibility: ensuring that people can actually use the systems being created.

Procurement is where this becomes practical

Governments and large organizations have enormous influence through procurement.

Every time an organization purchases a major technology platform, it can ask questions such as:

Can we export our data?

In what format?

Is that format publicly documented?

Can competing systems read it?

Does the platform support open protocols?

Can we migrate away from the product without losing information?

Are integrations based on open interfaces?

What happens if the vendor stops supporting the product?

What happens if pricing changes dramatically?

These questions do not require rejecting commercial technology.

They simply require thinking beyond the initial purchase.

The cheapest or easiest product today may become extremely expensive if leaving it later becomes nearly impossible.

Canada has an opportunity to think long-term

Canada does not need to invent its own standards for everything.

In many areas, strong international open standards already exist.

The opportunity is to make interoperability and portability more important parts of technology planning.

Government agencies can incorporate open standards into procurement.

Educational institutions can teach students why interoperability matters.

Canadian companies can build services and products around internationally recognized standards.

Open-source communities can help demonstrate alternative implementations.

Libraries and archives can continue advocating for formats that support long-term preservation.

And organizations of every size can begin asking a simple question before adopting technology:

If we needed to move away from this system tomorrow, could we?

If the answer is no, that deserves attention.

Freedom is not only about the software

Technology freedom is sometimes framed entirely around whether source code is available.

Source code matters enormously.

But so does the ability for technologies to communicate.

So does the ability to move data.

So does the ability to preserve information.

So does the ability to choose another supplier.

And so does the ability to access a document decades after the company that created its original software is gone.

Open standards may not receive the same attention as operating systems, cloud services or artificial intelligence.

But they quietly determine how much freedom organizations actually have.

Digital independence is not only about choosing the technology we use today. It is about making sure we still have choices tomorrow.

Linux Association of Canada

Building Canada’s Open Source Future, Together.