Vendor Lock-In is a way of life at Silicon Valley

Customers keep complaining of how Big Tech is locking them to their platform using proprietary tech and making a vendor switch difficult. Several vendors in the space have accused each other as well of perpetrating vendor lock-in. However, we tend to forget that every single major tech brand out there has strong lock-in strategies. It's akin to the pot calling the kettle black.

Below is how pervasive vendor lock-in is across the industry:-

1. VMware: Dominates virtualization with proprietary hypervisors.
2. Cisco: Proprietary routing protocols make switching difficult.
3. Apple: Ecosystem integration locks users into their products.
4. Oracle: Non existent database porting allowances and legacy sprawl ensures customer dependency.
5. SAP: Custom ERP systems create high switching costs.
6. Adobe: Subscription models and proprietary formats entrap creatives.
7. IBM: Specialized mainframes that are near impossible to replace.
8. Salesforce: Custom CRM setups complicate migration.
9. Red Hat: Subscription-based Enterprise Linux ties in customers.
10. Palo Alto Networks: Integrated security solutions hinder vendor changes.

Vendor lock-in is not a Bane per se. it's the way the world operates. Proprietary tech needs huge investment to remain afloat.

Look at Hashicorp - They moved to BSL licensing to bring in some whiff of ownership and now ended up selling to IBM. You can't operate a Tech Business without bringing in proprietary tech into the products. It's done to improve the posture of your products and not to create barriers. Those who do it well, survive, rest perish.

#technology #Vendor #Hashicorp #cloud