< standard > 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)