lock-in

    When an existing standard becomes almost impossible
   to supersede because of the cost or logistical difficulties
   involved in convincing all its users to switch something
   different and, typically, incompatible.

   The common implication is that the existing standard is
   notably inferior to other comparable standards developed
   before or since.

   Things which have been accused of benefiting from lock-in in
   the absence of being truly worthwhile include: the QWERTY
   keyboard; any well-known operating system or programming
   language you don't like (e.g., see "Unix conspiracy"); every
   product ever made by Microsoft Corporation; and most
   currently deployed formats for transmitting or storing data of
   any kind (especially the Internet Protocol, 7-bit (or even
   8-bit) character sets, analog video or audio broadcast
   formats and nearly any file format).

   Because of network effects outside of just computer
   networks, Real World examples of lock-in include the current
   spelling conventions for writing English (or French, Japanese,
   Hebrew, Arabic, etc.); the design of American money; the
   imperial (feet, inches, ounces, etc.) system of measurement;
   and the various and anachronistic aspects of the internal
   organisation of any government (e.g., the American Electoral
   College).

   (1998-01-15)